Second meeting of the Helsinki Policy Forum, Madrid, 21-23 October 2014

The second meeting of the Helsinki Policy Forum was held 21-23 October 2014 in Madrid, and was hosted by Casa Arabe and the Spanish Foreign Ministry.  The Forum brings together parliamentarians and political leaders, high-level government officials and senior economists, from across the European-MENA/Gulf region to discuss the common challenges they face with the aim of better informing policy making and initiatives that address shared concerns. At this meeting, participation was drawn from Bahrain, Britain, Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia and the United Nations.Discussions primarily focused on two particularly pressing challenges, the rise of ISIS and its implications for the region, and the on-going crisis in Libya. Through dialogue, participants attempted to develop a shared understanding of these challenges and, based on this analysis, formulate appropriate policy responses to address some of the issues that were raised.