Water, Peace, and Prosperity in the Middle East

The American Middle East Institute presents a
Special Luncheon Presentation

Water, Peace, and Prosperity in the Middle East:
Examples of Remarkable Collaborations

Featuring
Ambassador (Ret) Ram Aviram, Specialist in Hydro-Diplomacy at BIT Consultancy, former Chief of Staff to H.E. Shimon Peres and
former Ambassador to Greece from Israel

Mr. Ciarán Ó Cuinn, Director, Middle East Desalination Research Center in Muscat, Oman, and former policy advisor to the Irish Government during the Irish Peace Process

Moderator: Mr. Bill Flanagan, Chief Corporate Relations Officer,
Allegheny Conference on Community Development

Tuesday, May 10, 2016
11:30 am - Registration & Networking
12:00 - 1:30 pm - Lunch and Presentation

$50 Per Person

The Duquesne Club
Carnegie Room
325 Sixth Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15222

We are proud to present leading water policy experts from the Middle East who have developed productive partnerships and solutions to water scarcity and who exemplify peaceful collaboration among nations.  Companies and universities working in the water and infrastructure sectors, as well as parties interested in commercial opportunities in water in the Middle East, may be especially interested in this discussion.

Register by Tuesday, May 3^rd 
For more information please call: 412.995.0076

(Speakers’ bios below)
 

Ambassador (Ret) Ram Aviram 

Ambassador Aviram specializes in Hydro-Diplomacy. His experience is based on over 35 years of multilateral and bilateral diplomacy, while serving in high-ranking positions at the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs also as Chief of Staff of H.E. Shimon Peres and Ambassador to Greece.  His career at the Ministry was highly connected to hydro politics and water related issues. His responsibilities included Director of Water and Environment Department and Head of Israel’s negotiating team on water issues within the framework of the multi-lateral peace process. He participated in numerous international forums and multilateral negotiations on environment and water issues between Israel and its neighbors. He retired (at the age of 50) in 2006 and established BIT–Consultancy which is providing Hydro-Diplomacy consulting services. BIT is the geo-political consultant for the Rehabilitation Administration of the Lower Jordan River.  He is a lecturer at Tel-Hai Academic College at the post-graduate program for Water and Galilee Studies.  He is a graduate of TUFT-MIT special water diplomacy and UEA water security seminars. He writes often on cross-boundary water issues. He is a founding member of Israel Desalination Association.

Ciarán Ó Cuinn

Ciarán Ó Cuinn heads the Middle East Desalination Research Center (MEDRC) in Muscat, Oman, which is a state-of-the-art training and research facility established to deal with two of the most pressing global and regional challenges; water and peace. MEDRC is a unique international organization where ten co-equal partners work together on solutions to fresh water scarcity by supporting research, training, knowledge exchange and capacity building. Mr. Ó Cuinn is a specialist in public policy and international relations, particularly the development of mechanisms to deal with trans-boundary environmental issues. He spent more than a decade working on the various elements of the Irish Peace Process on projects as diverse as the development of a single All-Island Energy Market, formal negotiations between the main parties and the development of conflict resolution initiatives to help capture the lessons learned from the Irish context for peace processes elsewhere. He was principal ministerial policy adviser at three Government departments. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin and The School of Oriental & African Studies, London, he holds degrees in both History and Public Policy.