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“Negotiating in the Middle East” Advanced Virtual Training
Two-Day Advanced Virtual Training with Alastair Crooke and Miloš Strugar
Negotiating in the Middle East is challenging as it inevitably involves issues of culture, identity and power. While only a small segment of dynamics are visible on the surface, the powerful core of meaning lies in the depths of the collective psyche. From these depths comes perceptions of ourselves, themselves and the other, our and their moral and world views, beliefs, judgements and relationships.
This advanced virtual training course with Alastair Crooke and Miloš Strugar will cover suggested skills and techniques to better engage and negotiate in the Middle East. The training will consist of talks and facilitated discussions, where they will share various styles, cases and methods to approach topics and overcome difficulties in communicating with and understanding dynamics facing interlocutors based on their considerable experience with negotiating and facilitating dialogue and peace-building in diverse cultural settings in the Middle East.
Alastair Crooke is the Director of Conflicts Forum, a geo-political and geo-financial consultancy, and adviser to a number of large geo-financial entities. He was formerly advisor on Middle East issues to Javier Solana, the EU Foreign Policy Chief. He was also a staff member of Senator George Mitchell’s Fact-Finding Committee that inquired into the causes of the second Intifada (2000-2001), and an adviser to the International Middle East Quartet. Mr. Crooke initiated a number of ceasefires in the Occupied Territories on behalf of the European Union, and has 35 years of experience in working with Islamist movements in the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan. He is a regular media commentator on politics and geo-financial issues. Mr. Crooke is a member of Energy Intelligence’s Advisory Board, and was formerly a member of UN Alliance of Civilizations Global Experts.
Miloš Strugar is the Director of Conflux Center and UN Senior Mediation Adviser. He spent over twenty years as a high-ranking political officer with the United Nations in various peacekeeping and political missions in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. He held positions of Senior Political Advisor in UNTSO (Jerusalem) for 5 years, as well as Deputy Head of Mission and Director of Political and Civil Affairs in UNIFIL (Lebanon), for 11 years. Mr. Strugar has recently been assisting UN Special Envoys on the ceasefire agreement in Syria, and leading the UN expert delegation at the Astana talks on the conflict in Syria. He has considerable experience with ceasefire and cessation of hostilities issues, including facilitating discreet and open dialogue with non-state armed groups. He played a critical role in mediating cessation of hostilities between the Israeli Army and Hezballah in Southern Lebanon on many occasions, as well as in establishing the tripartite forum comprised of UN, Lebanese and Israeli Army.
The virtual training will look into ways of approaching cross-cultural negotiations with a focus on the Middle East, identifying suggested approaches for political negotiations and exploring various methods for addressing cross-cultural conflicts through dialogue and negotiations.
The participants will learn:
- Suggested ways to negotiate in Middle East cultural and political settings
- An understanding of the role of local culture and values when interpreting behavior and actions, and in meaning-making
- To differentiate culture-driven negotiation styles and skills
- To apply suggested communication skills and techniques in cross-cultural communication
- Suggested ways on how to open channels and create safe spaces for talks
- To deal with obstacles, sensitive points of controversy and difficult counterparts
- To address political, moral & legal challenges related to sanctions lists and regimes, terrorist designations, and anti-terrorism measures
The program is designed for senior level United Nations staff, diplomats, those working in regional organizations such as the EU, governments and non–governmental organizations, as well as professionals in the private sector who are exploring opportunities to work with or in the Middle East.
The training will take place from the 11th – 12th of June 2025, from 09:00 – 12:30, with two 15-minutes coffee breaks.
The specified times are in accordance with CEST (Central European Summer Time) / UTC+2 (Coordinated Universal Time) time zone.
The training will take place via the online platform Zoom.
The entire training will be held under the Chatham House rule, and participants can request the right to remain anonymous during sessions.
Recording of sessions is strictly prohibited.
The number of participants is limited.
The course will be conducted in English and translation is not provided.
Registration is open until the 7th of June.
The course fee is 1,000 USD.