One change to share before this evening.
Dr Burcu Ozcelik is stranded in Istanbul and cannot get a flight back to London in time for the event. We are very sorry not to have her with us, and we hope to have her on a future Emirates Wire panel.
In her place, we are joined by her RUSI colleague Michael Stephens, and we are extremely grateful to him for stepping in at a few hours’ notice.
Michael is a Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, where he led the Middle East programme for ten years. He served in the Foreign Office as Senior Analyst for Lebanon and Syria. He is now a Senior Fellow at Global Nation and at RAND, and his consultancy work on security and development across the Middle East and South Asia takes him to the World Bank, the Gates Foundation and the Global Fund. He is a familiar voice on the region for British broadcasters.
The rest of the evening is unchanged. David Waddell of BBC News chairs, and Michael is joined by James Swanston, Barclays’ Middle East and North Africa economist, and the Rt Hon Sir Oliver Dowden KCB CBE MP, former Deputy Prime Minister.
National Liberal Club, 1 Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2HE. Drinks from 6.00 and the discussion begins at 6.45. Free and on the record.
If you cannot be with us in London, we'll livestream on Substack and share the details shortly.
My very best,
Steve