Arab World ambassadors join Arab league in conference saluting American Arab activism at Washington D.C. commemoration this week
The Fourth Annual Arab-American Day 2015, hosted by the League of Arab States in cooperation with the Council of the Arab Ambassadors in Washington, DC., ended an afternoon of panel discussions and serious business networking on a cheerful note of music and song during its annual gala reception at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center, in Washington, DC.
Andrew Gelfuso, Vice President, TCMA/Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center, welcomed the guests by stressing how deeply honored he was to host the Arab League and support such a compelling conference at his facility in Washington DC. “It is our dream to expand our relationship with the US. – Arab community by inspiring innovation and social development and fostering economic growth in the Arab-American community.”
For his part, H.E Salah A. Sarhan, Chief Representative of the Arab League, said, “Building on the past, for this year we sought to enhance the Arab American Day activities by expanding it to include a Forum of Panels and Workshops with discussions that are aimed at celebrating Arab-American entrepreneurship and innovation.” He noted that “We brought together industry leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, public sector officials, and thought leaders from across the Arab region and Arab-American communities with the goal of exchanging ideas.”
The afternoon of panel discussions and workshops featured 30 speakers and panelists for in-depth discussions and brainstorming of important challenges facing the American-Arab community. The goal was to reach “a look forward” at ways to connect the community to a larger global ecosystem.
This year’s event was attended by 600 guests, represented officials from the World Bank, Congress, U.S. Department of State, diplomats and Arab-American communities and organizations. While enjoying sumptuous Arabic food and pastries, Egyptian oud player and composer Ramy Adly and international Syrian Opera singer Lubana Al Quntar mesmerized the crowd with music and song!
The evening’s keynote speakers also included Ambassador David Thorne, Senior Economic Advisor to the Secretary of State; H.E Antoine Chedid, Ambassador of Lebanon, David Hamod, President and CEO of the National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce, and Ralph Nader, author, lecturer and political activist who inspired the audience with his remarks on the Arab culture, calling on the U.S to be a humanitarian super power and share with world the best of America.
Ray Hanania is an award winning political and humor columnist who analyzes American and Middle East politics, and life in general. He is an author of several books.
Hanania covered Chicago Politics and Chicago City Hall from 1976 through 1992 at the Daily Southtown and the Chicago Sun-Times. He began writing in 1975 publishing The Middle Eastern Voice newspaper in Chicago (1975-1977). He later published “The National Arab American Times” newspaper (2004-2007).
Hanania writes weekly columns on Middle East and American Arab issues as Special US Correspondent for the Arab News ArabNews.com, at TheArabDailyNews.com, and at SuburbanChicagoland.com. He has published weekly columns in the Jerusalem Post newspaper, YNetNews.com, Newsday, the Orlando Sentinel, Houston Chronical, and Arlington Heights Daily Herald.
Hanania is the recipient of four (4) Chicago Headline Club “Peter Lisagor Awards” for Column writing. In November 2006, he was named “Best Ethnic American Columnist” by the New American Media. In 2009, Hanania received the prestigious Sigma Delta Chi Award for Writing from the Society of Professional Journalists. He is the recipient of the MT Mehdi Courage in Journalism Award. He was honored for his writing skills with two (2) Chicago Stick-o-Type awards from the Chicago Newspaper Guild. In 1990, Hanania was nominated by the Chicago Sun-Times editors for a Pulitzer Prize for his four-part series on the Palestinian Intifada.
His writings have also been honored by two national Awards from ADC for his writing, and from the National Arab American Journalists Association.
Hanania is the US Special Correspondent for the Arab News Newspaper, covering Middle East and Arab American issues. He writes for the Southwest News newspaper group writing on mainstream American issues.
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