KAS Regional Programme Gulf States

The KAS Regional Programme Gulf States would like to wish you and your loved ones a blessed and peaceful Eid Fitr Mubarak 🕊️

KAS organised a dialogue programme in Berlin for master’s students in national security at @NAUSS_SA from 19-21 Jan 2026. Exchanges with KAS, local think tanks, the Bundestag, Foreign Office, & MoD introduced participants to national & int’l security challenges facing Germany.

The Regional Programme Gulf States wishes you and your loved ones Ramadan Kareem! 🌙

National identity and history are being thought and written anew in Saudi Arabia. Just in time for today’s Saudi Founding Day, our Research Fellow Nicolas Reeves examines the politics of history-telling in our latest Policy Report. Click to read in German: kas.de/de/web/rpg/det…

The KAS Regional Programme Gulf States team wishes you a very Merry Christmas, a warm and joyful holiday season and a great start to 2026! 🎄🎅🏼✨

Caroline Kanter, KAS’s Deputy Head of Division European and International Cooperation, visited Riyadh on 8 Dec. High-level exchanges at GCC, Shura Council, and Min. of Economy and Planning focused on KAS’s role in fostering Saudi-German cooperation in areas of common interest.

@CIPResearch @Gulf_Research @ispionline Alongside the Forum, we held bilateral meetings with key Qatari and Saudi officials, which focused on advancing dialogue on regional security, foreign policy priorities and finding avenues for future cooperation! 📸: Doha Forum

@CIPResearch @Gulf_Research @ispionline A key milestone at the Doha Forum was the signing of an MoU between KAS and the Doha Forum, paving the way for closer collaboration toward Doha Forum 2026.

Still in Doha – this time at the @DohaForum! KAS participated with a high-level delegation including Caroline Kanter, KAS’s deputy Head of Division, European and Int. Cooperation, MP Dr Norbert Röttgen, MP Thomas Röwekamp and Dr Anchalee Rüland.

From 🇸🇦to 🇶🇦: On 4 December, KAS, @AtlanticCouncil and @ME_Council convened decision-makers and experts from Qatar, USA, and Europe in Doha to discuss how great-power competition manifests in the Gulf states and how Doha and other GCC powers navigate these dynamics.

The workshop feeds into a multi-year research project, with publications to follow in 2026 - stay tuned!

Our December wrap continues with a joint KAS-RPG and @Gulf_Research GLMM programme, on the future of highly skilled migration in the Gulf. Experts discussed talent retention, onward & return migration and policy pathways shaping the GCC’s competition for global skills.

December kicked-off strong for KAS-RPG in Bahrain 🇧🇭 with an interactive policymaking simulation under our Young Parliamentarians Programme, implemented in partnership with Youth Pioneer Society and CRISP, empowering young leaders with hands-on skills in negotiation and debate!

4) While Europe has a clear interest in defending the freedom of maritime navigation, regional problems need regional solutions: initiatives like the GCC Vision for Regional Security form a good basis to jointly build on.

3) To defend maritime security, #Germany and #KSA need to tackle protracted conflicts in the region, focus more on cost-effective solutions, and improve exchange and coordination through enhanced data and intelligence sharing to improve joint situational awareness.

Last week, KAS, @Gulf_Research, and @KFCRIS’s two-day workshop on maritime security in Riyadh convened 70 participants from Saudi Arabia, Europe, and Africa to discuss common maritime interests and brainstorm shared actions to uphold freedom of navigation in the #Red_Sea & #Gulf.

Deadline October 31! Send in your abstract for KAS’s workshop at next year’s Gulf Studies Symposium, organised by @GulfIntlForum in Doha. Do you have an idea for Filling the GCC-EU Strategic Partnership with Meaning? Then submit your abstract here: gulfif.org/app/gss-worksh…