Washington DC,,
26 February 2004 --
While
in Washington to discuss joint programs with the Academies of Science
and of Engineering, Serageldin – at the behest of Ambassador Nabil
Fahmy -- met with many members of the Washington Establishment. Ambassador
Fahmy knew of the widespread interest of many in Washington to know more
about the Arab Reform Conference being organized for the 12-14 March 2004
at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. After explaining the issues, and referring
the attendees to the articles published in Al-Ahram Weekly, Serageldin
defended the controversial decision to exclude all non-Arabs from the
meeting. He reiterated that whatever will emerge from the conference must
be 100% home-grown. He paraphrased his famous quote (from his 1995 book
“Nurturing Development”), and said that those who wanted to
help promote reform must learn to support the societies concerned, not
dictate to them… saying that “… reform is like a tree,
you make it grow by feeding its roots, not by pulling on its branches”…
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