Earlier this year, Pope Francis made a historic three-day visit to the United Arab Emirates, the first ever trip of a pontiff and leader of the Roman Catholic Church to the Arabian Peninsula. This landmark event represented the most high-profile of a series of initiatives positioning the UAE as a champion of interfaith dialogue, moderation, and pluralism. Why is the UAE elevating multiculturalism and interfaith dialogue to such prominence and investing capital and leadership around these issues? How is the campaign of championing multiculturalism and the acceptance of others being received domestically and internationally? And how are these initiatives linked to the UAE’s strategic positioning in the global economy and its ambitions within the wider region?

AGSIW hosted a roundtable discussion with Ali Rashid Al Nuaimi, chairman of Hedayah, the International Center of Excellence for Countering Violent Extremism; Maqsoud Kruse, executive director of Hedayah; and Yousef Al Obaidli, director-general of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center.