Date: Thursday, January 14, 2010 Time: 2:00 to 3:45 p.m. Location: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Speakers: Eckert Woertz, Thomas W. Lippman, Oliver Wilcox, and Christopher Boucek

Food security is fast becoming a critical issue for Persian Gulf countries as they face three converging factors: tighter global food markets with strained export surpluses, a decline in domestic production, and continuous population growth. Countries on the Arabian Peninsula, fearing that some day they might not be able to secure enough food for their populations, have increased government subsidies, built up of a strategic storage, and invested in agriculture overseas.

Eckert Woertz will discuss the Gulf food security predicament and evaluate the current initiatives of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. He will be joined by Thomas Lippman who will discuss Saudi Arabia’s controversial "food security initiative" to produce food in underdeveloped countries for consumption by the fast-growing population of Saudi Arabia. Oliver Wilcox will comment on food security and links to governance in Yemen. Christopher Boucek will moderate.