Tim Sebastian to open Middle East Marketing Forum conference

Leading news presenter and foreign affairs journalist Tim Sebastian (BBC) has been confirmed as a keynote speaker for The Middle East Marketing Forum’s two-day conference in Doha on January 12 – 14, 2004.

The event, positioned by organisers as the leading forum for marketing in the region, is tipped to attract more than 200 regional marketeers to the city to discuss the theme Marketing in a Changing World with a host of international speakers, including the world-renowned marketing guru Philip Kotler.

Conference organiser Judith Gray said: “Tim Sebastian is one of the most respected figures in world media, and his bullish style of presenting, as well as his punchy content, should get The Middle East Marketing Forum off to a lively start.”

Sebastian is an award-winning former foreign correspondent and has been based in Warsaw, Moscow and Washington. He is a dual winner Britain’s Royal Television Society award for Interviewer of the Year as well as Television Journalist of the Year. He is also a recipient of the Richard Dimbleby Award from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for the most important contribution to factual television.

The 51-year-old has travelled all over the world interviewing presidents, prime ministers and kings, as well as authors, actors and musicians – and recently came to the Middle East for a series of interviews that included Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister of Islamic Affairs, Abdul al Matroudi and Mohamed Alabbar of Dubai’s Department of Economic Development.

Among the other speakers at The Middle East Marketing Forum are: Dr Henry Azzam, CEO of Jordan Invest in Amman; Dr Zainab Karake Shalhoub, associate dean of the Business School, American University of Sharjah; Professor Colin Gilligan of the Sheffield Business School in UK; and Trevor Stokes, president and CEO of American Express Middle East and North Africa.

The three-day forum has already attracted some international sponsors, including BBC World, Q-Tel, Qatar National Bank, Al Jazeera, The Economist magazine and Canon.