About

The Global Diwan is an international business club that connects leaders from the East and the West.

We believe in building privileged connections through information and trust between personalities in business, politics, academics, European and Arab civil societies and beyond, including Africa and Asia, with India in particular.

We provide unique opportunities of meeting in Paris, London and Berlin, as well as in the main Arab capital cities. Our aim is to foster dialogue at the highest level between political and business leaders.

Conceived as an exclusive forum, The Global Diwan intends to become a strategic think tank, but also a major networking venue where business matching and new opportunities come into being between Europe, the Arab world, Africa and Asia.

Why the diwan?

Why the diwan?

The diwan is the place where the Arabs meet and discuss their businesses, but also where they listen to music, poetry and participate in literary exchanges.

A diwan also means a collection of poems. “Poetry is the Arabs’ Diwan” as the Syrian prince and poet Abu Firas al-Hamdani puts it. Each Arab has heard it once in his lifetime.

Poetry is the mirror of the Arab thought. One that allows the Arabs to remember their cherished values to better understand the world and the different lifestyles they have chosen, their ideas of love, pain, pride, honour and pleasure. It represents an immutable part of the history of the Arabo-Muslim civilisation.

“Poetry is the mine of knowledge of the Arabs and the book of their wisdom, the archive of their history and the treasure of their epic days, the wall that defends their traditions, the trench that preserve their glories, the impartial witness for the day of judgement, the decisive argument when the debate arises.” Quoted from the Book of Poetry and Poets, Ibn Qutayba, Irakian author of the 9th century.

Our Diwan is global to replace the Arab world at the heart of History, the hub around which Europe, Africa and Asia revolve.

Press release

An International Business Club between Europe, the Middle-East, North Africa and Asia Launches in Paris, London and Berlin.

A business club with a global aim comes into being in Paris in March 2020.

The Global Diwan was launched by its founders Eric Schell and Alexandre Houssard to gather leaders that want to expand their business network between Europe and the Arab World and beyond with Africa and Asia, of which India in particular.

The club intends to build privileged connections through information and trust between personalities in business, politics, academics, European and Arab civil societies to foster opportunities and bring our continents together.

The Global Diwan will organise regular events throughout the year in Paris, London and Berlin, as well as in the Arab capital cities. Membership will open access to exclusive working dinners, to lunches and conferences with recognized experts, business and political leaders from both side of the Mediterranean, Africa and Asia.

Among the objectives of The Global Diwan, the creation of two dedicated programs: the Diwan Women Leaders and the Diwan Young Leaders to promote and support Near and Middle-Eastern young generations in their schooling and initiatives.

The Global Diwan wants to develop an international perspective. For this purpose, Eric Schell and Alexandre Houssard were joined by distinguished personalities. The advisory board is chaired by Co-Chairman Maurice Gourdault-Montagne, French Ambassador, former General Secretary of the Quai d’Orsay and Co-Chairwoman Her Highness Sheikha Intisar Al Sabah, Kuwaiti advocate of women’s cause in war-torn countries. Among its members: Jack Lang, former French Minister of State and President of the Arab World Institute in Paris, Hervé Novelli, former French Secretary of State and President of the Association of Franco-Tunisian Exchanges; diplomats, British and German politicians, as well as personalities from the Arab word and beyond, leveraging their experience and network for the club.

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