Feelings after our first Pre-Meeting 2007

August 20th marked a wonderful day.. It was the final day of the first ever MENA GN pre-meeting... MENA is now officially one years old with over 25 individuals there to celebrate this wonderful year, in which we spent three wonderful days connecting, getting to know each other through understanding the region we live in, and the culture we are from.

As GN board members we were interested in finding out the reactions of what MENA would think of our GN intiatives and on Day two of the pre-meeting when the plan was presented the reaction was positive... and this year would be the highlight of many wonderful opportunities....The GN initiative is called Nour...

So what is Nour?
Nour means light in Arabic, Farsi, Hindi, Hebrew, Swahili and Turkish. Light which we see every day when the sun rises symbolizes a new beginning: the start of a transformation.

What is the Nour Program?
Nour is an umbrella program which revolves around the fact that that MENA is an emerging market. Our umbrella program has developed three different projects which will tackle bridging the cultural gap with the west; developing regional talent and increasing MENA relationship with emerging markets in Asia. These initiatives support MENA countries to grow sustainably on our measures of success and impact and empower more individuals who will create positive change within their countries and the MENA region.

Why Nour program?
Light is a source of knowledge, and with that knowledge comes truth. The truth is MENA is a fast growing emerging market. MENA needs leaders who are ethically conscious and empowered to lead positive change. Through the Nour Program we aim at providing the platform for enlightening more of our youth to creating a better tomorrow today...

Some of the highlights of that day was when we were presenting Asiana, the program with the Asian countries (China, India and Singapore).. We had those program responsible come in and share their perspective on why MENA is important for them... and nothing beat China MCP Fares who gave a wonderful speak to the MENA plenary in Arabic... Also the Indians with their fun roll call wonderful brochure and beautiful postcard of Taj Mahal... And Singapore with their impressive progress of the country cooperation.. It was a wonderful opportunity seeing MENA connecting....

We are all so excited for the next 10 days of IC... and watch out http://live.myaiesec.net/ for more information and watch the output of the sessions..

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"There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that
reflects it…" - Edith Wharton