DUBAI: Mirek Dusek, the head of Middle East and North Africa affairs for the World Economic Forum, is anticipating a “historic” annual meeting in Davos this week — and not just because of the presence of President Donald Trump and his big US entourage.
The president’s late and surprising decision to attend the January gathering of the global elite has added extra spice to this year’s event, but Dusek, the epitome of the Davos diplomat, does not want to prejudge the reaction the WEF will give to his “America First” agenda.
“It is a global event, and I’m very happy he is coming. It is important for the international community to learn the views of the president first-hand. But I don’t want to speculate on what kind of reception he’ll get,” Dusek said in an exclusive interview with Arab News.
The American delegation is the most heavyweight since President Clinton was the last White House incumbent to make the snowy trip to Davos in 2000. In addition to Trump himself, virtually the entire US Cabinet is in attendance, including his senior adviser Jared Kushner who has taken an active interest in Middle East affairs.
Dusek did not know whether Kushner’s wife, the president’s daughter and occasional adviser, Ivanka, would be at Davos. Trump is among 70 heads of state or government attending the meeting, which will welcome the biggest ever involvement by politicians at Davos — some 340 political delegates among the 2,500 or so business leaders, economists, academics, intellectuals and media that attend the event.
That reflects the WEF’s recent relabelling as an “international organization for public-private cooperation,” Dusek explained. “It means we are paying even more attention to working with decision-makers across the world. We are living in an evolving global environment, and if you want to make a dent in the big issues, you have got to have a multi-stakeholder model. We’re building our capacity to work with governments and political leaders,” he said.
Does that mean the 47-year-old organization, which began as an Alpine forum for accountants who also liked to ski, is morphing into the World Political Forum? “We are fulfilling our mandate for public and private cooperation and beefing up the political aspect,” Dusek said.
His role is to handle the MENA region within WEF’s global agenda. An Arabist, he worked for a time at the US Embassy in Baghdad before he joined the WEF in 2007. Reflecting the increasing interest by the WEF in the Middle East’s complex affairs, he now sits on the WEF executive committee.
Davos 2018 will be historic in another aspect too, he said. “We are really seeing engagement deepen from the economies and countries of the Middle East. There is an even stronger delegation this year from Saudi Arabia,” he explained, reeling off a list of ministers, ambassadors and business leaders from the Kingdom.
That is not surprising, given the momentous events that have been taking place in Saudi Arabia under the Vision 2030 strategy, which is in the process of transforming economic, social and cultural life there.
“The WEF is here to support the reform program in Saudi Arabia. We believe we can help improve the Kingdom’s global economy competitiveness, especially in view of the changes underway in the ‘fourth industrial revolution’ (4IR — the WEF’s shorthand for the economic changes brought about by the digital and communications industries).
“We also support the strategy of closing the gender gap, which is an issue we’ve been involved with at WEF for many years. It’s a core issue for the Kingdom, which will require a lot of thought in implementation,” he added.
The anti-corruption campaign underway in the Kingdom, aimed at driving out graft and fraud that costs the economy billions of dollars, will also feature at the Davos meeting. The WEF has for several years been running its own anti-corruption campaign called PACI (Partnering Against Corruption Initiative) to encourage transparency in business and the public sector, especially in emerging markets.
The Saudi finance minister, Mohammed Al-Jadaan, will attend one of the PACI sessions, Dusek said. “We are looking at how we can be helpful to the anti-corruption efforts by Saudi Arabia, as we have been with other corruption cases around the world,” he added.
The WEF is keen to expend its involvement in the region as a whole, and with the Kingdom in particular. “We’ve made many consultations with our partners in Saudi Arabia, and we believe it would be an excellent milestone in our relationship if we were to help stage an event there. We would be very open to the idea of an impactful or high-level summit in Saudi Arabia.
One possibility would be a satellite office for the 4IR hub the WEF recently launched in San Francisco, California. Several global centers are being considered as offshoot offices for 4IR — in Bahrain, India, Japan and Rwanda among others. The Kingdom’s new project to create a fully automated mega-city, Neom, would appear to make it a natural site for one of them. “I would not discount that,” Dusek said.
Given the region’s critical role in world affairs, the Davos meeting is also an opportunity to discuss the foreign policy of Saudi Arabia and the rest of the region. The Kingdom’s foreign minister, Adel Al-Jubeir, is expected to attend, as is the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the US, Khalid bin Salman. “It is important to have a view from Saudi Arabia on how they see the world,” Dusek said.
Regional partners, and rivals, will also be represented at Davos. The UAE is sending a big delegation under Mohammad Al-Gergawi, minister for Cabinet affairs and the future, and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash, and there will be in total eight heads of state from regional governments, including King Abdullah II of Jordan.
A delegation from Qatar — still in deadlock with some of its Gulf neighbors over allegations of terrorism funding — will be led by senior ministerial figures, while Dusek said it was “unclear” who would be attending from Iran, also at loggerheads with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries over foreign policy.
The WEF has in the past attempted to help conflicting parties to find common ground in foreign disputes, most notably in Libya and Palestine. Dusek said there were a number of sessions relating to the international relations of the region, but nothing officially in the week-long program that amounts to a “peace conference” for Gulf rivals.
“It is important for the WEF to act as a platform to talk about important issues and help decision-makers with their diplomatic efforts. It is a goal and a duty of WEF to facilitate them in decreasing tensions on the political front,” he said.
WEF Mideast chief ponders Trump, Saudi Arabia and corruption at historic Davos
WEF Mideast chief ponders Trump, Saudi Arabia and corruption at historic Davos
Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea dolphins signal a thriving marine environment
- Long-term monitoring aims to turn observations into data for conservation
JEDDAH: The waters of the Red Sea along Saudi Arabia’s coast have become a vibrant natural stage, with pods of dolphins appearing near shorelines and along shipping lanes. These captivating sightings are emerging as a positive indicator for the health of the Red Sea’s marine ecosystem.
Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea waters are a thriving sanctuary for marine life, hosting 12 species of dolphins and small whales, according to the National Center for Wildlife.
Nearshore and reef-adjacent waters are frequently visited by the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops aduncus) and the spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris). Common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) are also present, but tend to favor deeper offshore waters.
Beyond these familiar faces, the Red Sea is home to a wider array of cetaceans that are less often documented. These include the Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin (Sousa plumbea), which inhabits shallow coastal areas, the pantropical spotted dolphin (Stenella attenuata), Risso’s dolphin (Grampus griseus), and larger relatives such as the false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens), which may be more common than sightings suggest. Rare visitors like killer whales (Orcinus orca) and offshore species such as the rough-toothed dolphin (Steno bredanensis), striped dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba), long-beaked common dolphin (Delphinus capensis), and short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus) are known to appear sporadically but require documented evidence for confirmation.
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Pods of dolphins are regularly spotted near shorelines and shipping lanes along Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast.
Reef-enclosed lagoons and sheltered nearshore waters serve as resting and social hubs for dolphins.
Human activities, including fisheries, coastal development and vessel traffic, can disrupt dolphin behavior.
Field identification is made easier by distinct physical traits. Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins are smaller and more slender than their common bottlenose cousins, while spinner dolphins are streamlined with a pronounced beak. Risso’s dolphins are stockier with blunt heads, often marked with noticeable scars. Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins remain close to shallow, sometimes murky, shorelines, making them challenging to document without dedicated surveys.
Researchers at KAUST emphasized the importance of ongoing conservation to maintain the Red Sea’s ecological balance. Research scientist Jesse Cochran told Arab News: “For Saudi waters, the biggest challenge is that we still don’t have the kind of long-term, standardized monitoring needed to estimate population sizes or trends confidently. We have important observations and some targeted surveys, but the baseline is still developing.”
Another research scientist, Royale Hardenstine, highlighted the need for broader coordination: “What we need most right now is connectivity across efforts. There are good observations in specific project areas, but without a shared framework and a broader network, it’s hard to turn those observations into coast-wide inferences about residency, movements, or trends.”
Dolphins are frequently seen in reef-enclosed lagoons and sheltered nearshore waters, where they rest and socialize. These locations are often predictable, as reef structures reduce wave action and currents, creating calm conditions favorable to dolphin behavior.
Christy Judd, a Ph.D. student at KAUST, noted: “Some reef-bounded lagoons appear to be used repeatedly as resting areas. These places matter because they offer shelter and calm conditions, not because they’re automatically the highest biodiversity sites.”
While dolphins sometimes feed and socialize near coral reefs, Prof. Michael Berumen explained that their ecological range extends well beyond reef systems. Dolphin activity in the Red Sea spans a wide seascape that includes open waters, channels, continental shelf edges, and coastal zones.
He said that reefs shape resting areas and can concentrate prey. Experts, however, caution against linking dolphin presence directly to reef health.
Hardenstine elaborated: “Where dolphins and reefs overlap, it’s often because reef structures create sheltered lagoons and predictable resting areas.”
Dolphin group sizes in the Red Sea vary by species and activity. Bottlenose and spinner dolphins may form large aggregations exceeding 100 individuals during social interactions or when moving through food-rich waters.
In contrast, Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins are more often observed in small groups. Mixed-species associations also occur: Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins may interact with bottlenose dolphins, and pantropical spotted dolphins frequently accompany spinner dolphins.
Berumen described these social dynamics: “Dolphin societies are typically dynamic, with groups that form and re-form over time (often described as ‘fission-fusion’ social structure). Individuals associate for feeding, travel, resting, and social interactions, and alliances can form, particularly in some bottlenose populations.”
Judd added a field perspective: “Calves are usually integrated into the pod’s normal behavior, but groups with calves can be more cautious, especially around disturbance.”
Seasonal patterns in dolphin distribution remain unclear. Hardenstine noted: “In Saudi waters seasonal patterns, if they exist, are not yet well-resolved because sighting data are often influenced by survey effort, weather, and where people are looking.”
Dolphins respond to prey availability, water temperature, and oceanographic features such as currents and productive zones. Cochran cautioned: “We expect environment and prey to influence where dolphins are seen, but data limitations mean we should treat seasonal conclusions as provisional until long-term monitoring is in place.”
Human activities pose additional pressures. Dolphins face risks from fisheries, occasional bycatch, coastal development, tourism, vessel traffic, and underwater noise. While the Red Sea does not experience the intensive industrial fishing seen in other regions, interactions with fisheries can displace dolphins or disrupt the marine food web. Vessel traffic can disturb resting behavior and increase stress.
Berumen explained: “Vessels can affect dolphin behavior by causing avoidance of certain areas, interrupting resting behavior, altering movement patterns, and increasing stress, particularly in areas where dolphins rest in sheltered lagoons.”
Hardenstine added: “While data related to these impacts in the Red Sea are sparse, some anthropogenic pressures are increasing throughout the region. This is exactly when collaborative monitoring and scientifically informed mitigation become most valuable.”
KAUST researchers study dolphins as part of broader ecosystem and megafauna monitoring, combining reef surveys, opportunistic sightings, and targeted research. The university collaborates closely with the Saudi Arabia’s National Center for Wildlife to develop a national marine mammal stranding network, assisting with identification, sampling, and necropsies when needed. Collaborative efforts with NCW and OceanX have also supported aerial surveys documenting Red Sea megafauna.
Cochran emphasized the goal: “The most responsible next step is building long-term monitoring that is coordinated between stakeholders nationally, so that observations turn into defensible data that can identify trends and guide conservation actions or policy.”
