The second new Arab Woman Forum is scheduled to be held under the patronage of the First Lady of Lebanon on October 23-24, 2008 at the Intercontinental Phoenicia Beirut.

A distinguished group of renowned Lebanese Arab and international personalities representing different sectors and businesses will participate at the Forum.

The forum is looked upon in Lebanon as an event of special importance. In addition to the patronage of the First Lady of Lebanon and her speech at the opening ceremony, the Forum will be addressed by the minister of culture, Tammam Salam and the minister of information, Dr Tarek Metri.

The forum has also attracted the attention of the Arab states which will be represented through the assistant secretary general for social affairs at League of Arab States, Dr Sima Bahous.

Furthermore, the forum will be addressed for two successive days by well-known experts in different sectors and fields.

On the official and governmental level, the forum will be addressed by Adela Amara, urban affairs minister, France; Nouriya Subeeh Barrak Al-Subeeh, minister for education and minister of higher education, Kuwait; Dr Ruwaida Al-Ma'aitah, senator-member of the Upper Parliament, Jordan; Dr Jihad Azour, former minister of finance, Lebanon; Hanna Sorour, director of the department of women affairs, general secretariat of the League of Arab States; Dr Sandra Cioffi, former member of the Italian Parliament; Dr Haifa Abou Ghazaleh, member of the Jordanian Senate and the secretary general of the National Council for Family Affairs, Jordan; Dr Kamal Shehadi, chairman and CEO, Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), Lebanon.

Among speakers involved in the media field will be Georges Kerdehi, Mazen Hayek, Aisha Sultan Khalifa, Nadine Hani, Zahi Wehbe, Youssef Al Jarrah, Inas Al Degheidy, Rania Barghout, Carmen Lebbos, Stéphanie Bataille, Dr Thuraya Al-Arrayed and Youssef Bazzi.

Speakers from the business sector include Sheikha Hessa Saad Al Abdullah Al Sabah, chairperson of the Arab Businesswomen's Council, Kuwait; Sabah Al Moayyed, general manager, Eskan Bank, Bahrain; Hibaaq Osman the founder of V-Day Karama, Egypt and founder of the Arab Women's Fund; Hanan Saab the vice president of the Lebanese League for Women in Business in Lebanon; Ramsay Najjar, founder and chairman of the strategic communication consultancy S2C, Lebanon; Sarah Al Jassem, chairman of Kyanat International Holding, Kuwait and Dr Afnan Al Shuaibi, secretary general, Arab-British Chamber of Commerce, United Kingdom.

The Forum will also be addressed by speakers from the educational and academic field such as Dr Elisabet Engellau, adjunct clinical professor of management at Insead, France; Saad Abou Chacra, founder and chairman, Edugates International, UAE;  Katty Marmenout, researcher, Insead, UAE; Dr Michel Jabre, professor at the Institute of Fine Arts, USJ and at the Institute of Theatre and Audio-Visual Cinema Studies, Lebanon and professor Marie-Thérèse Khair Badawi, psychoanalyst and director of research, USJ, Lebanon.

Speakers will also include a number of poets, writers and activists in the woman field. - TradeAArabia News Service