10:15 A.M.
Real Audio of Briefing
MR. BAILEY: Good morning and welcome to the Foreign Press Center for today's briefing by the Business for Diplomatic Action and Zogby International on a recent report of young Arab leaders. We have with us Keith Reinhard and John Zobgy. They will each make a short statement and then be happy to take your question.
MR. REINHARD: From there?
MR. BAILEY: Yes, from there.
MR. REINHARD: Thank you very much. I'm Keith Reinhard. I'm the President and founder of Business for Diplomatic Action. Let me take a minute to explain what our organization is and what we're about and what our mission is. We have a brochure for you to get more details. But essentially we are a three-year-old not-for-profit non-partisan organization organized to enlist the business community to lift the standing of the United States in the world.
Our board is made up of preeminent marketing and communications executives plus key executives from major U.S. corporations including ExxonMobil, PepsiCo, McDonalds, Microsoft and others.
Our mission, as I said, is to enlist the business community in taking actions that will improve the standing and reputation of the United States. Our strategy is in five parts. First, to sensitize key U.S. constituencies about the problem of anti-Americanism, which is growing around the world.
Second, to transform those parts of our behavior and our policies that need to be changed. And here we're primarily talking about the actions and behavior of Americans traveling abroad. We have 60 million trips made by Americans every year, and that's a chance to make 60 million positive impressions as opposed to 60 million negative impressions. And then the second thing we're concentrating on changing is trying to influence the government to simplify the visa policies and to friendly up our behavior at the border to effect a more welcoming attitude at the border.
The third part of our strategy is to accentuate those good things that people still like about the United States and here we're working closely with the travel and tourism industry to find ways to bring more people to the United States. Research is conclusive on the fact that when people actually get through our bullies at our borders, they have a much better impression of the United States once they have visited here.
And the fourth part is really pertinent to today's briefing and that is to reach out to build new bridges through business-led initiatives to shift the debate from foreign policy to civil society and to common shared interests. One of the things all the research indicates is that education and personal and professional development is a shared value. And so one of our reach-out initiatives has been to work with a group called Young Arab Leaders. And they have chapters in 10 of the Arab states. We have been to Dubai to work with them, recently a conference in New York, 100 young Arabs interacting with 100 American executives to find ways to help young Arabs realize their career and professional aspirations.
With that in mind, we commissioned Zogby International to do a research study to try to learn more about the aspirations and professional goals of young Arabs. And John is here today to report on that study, which was generously sponsored for BDA by ExxonMobil and PepsiCo Middle East. So I'll turn it over to John.
MR. ZOGBY: Let me begin by saying, for those who don't know, and I guess most of you don’t, the Business for Diplomatic Action is a very significant initiative globally and especially in terms of the Middle East region in terms of creating a sense of mutual understanding and a mutual action agenda.
What Keith just related in terms of general principles, I think, is a perfect summary of the survey that we did that focused on the United Arab Emirates. There were 231 interviews that were done among young Arab middle class in the UAE. And in terms of the highlights, just in terms of the broad sweep, number one what we learned is that despite serious damage that has been done to the American image throughout the region that these young Arabs and young Arab leaders are able to differentiate and compartmentalize between their attitudes towards the United States and the United States Government on one hand and their attitudes towards U.S. business and business in general on the other hand. A very important finding.
Secondly, what we also found is that contrary to the old cliché that familiarity breeds contempt, on the contrary, familiarity actually breeds mutual understanding. And in other surveys that we have done throughout the region, we have been able to differentiate between those who have been to the United States, have relatives in the United States, who want to come to the United States, who want to learn about the United States on one hand, and those who have not in any of those categories and much, much, much more positive attitudes towards the United States and its various characteristics.
Thirdly, I think the survey establishes for us a roadmap for action and a roadmap for healing between the United States -- especially the United States -- American business and then also young people in the region.
These are just some highlights to tell you a little bit about the group that we surveyed. We asked them about their aspirations and the number one response -- where do you want to be in 10 years -- 30 percent said that they would like to be in business. Forty-five percent said that they expected to be in business.
What was their biggest accomplishment to date, by far and away education by 37 percent, followed by their career at 26 percent. This is a future-oriented group. What, if any, obstacles exist or barriers may exist that might, in effect, stand in the way of their achieving their goals to be in business and develop their career? They said as the number one response was insufficient education. Well, we asked them then where would you go if you had a choice to improve your education and develop your technical skills? The number one response was the United States. The number two response was the United Kingdom. Number three response was France.
Their overall image of international business, 78 percent said that it was possible. We asked them, can international business help you achieve your goals? And one in three said yes. What nations could be most helpful or what nation's companies could be most helpful in your achieving your business and your career goals? By far and away 92 percent said the United States, American businesses, followed at 61 percent by the United Kingdom.
Well, what kind of programs, then, would be of greatest assistance to you? Number one, first and foremost was job training at 89 percent; at 80 percent technical training, internship programs abroad was cited by 71 percent, internship programs internally within your own country were cited by 67 percent. And so what we have here in sum is not only a group that aspires -- I'm quoted, I've been quoted elsewhere as saying not just simply in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and Sharjah but that's to the greatest degree. But throughout the region we are finding the development of a burgeoning middle class, one with aspirations, one where there is little or no gender gap, where young women aspire in the same way as young men to a better future. And lastly that this is not your grandfather's Arab world and we certainly have a distinct evidence of that in the poll that we did in the UAE.
And so I guess we'll answer any questions.
MODERATOR: Right. Do we have a question from New York?
MODERATOR: Not at this time.
MR. REINHARD: You might mention that there were both young men and women in this study.
QUESTION: I've got a question. Did your survey do any polling or --
MR. ZOGBY: This was only in UAE.
QUESTION: You did the survey in the UAE only. Can you talk about the burgeoning middle class in the UAE? I was under the impression that there were the very wealthy and the very poor. And tell me about the middle class and how you characterize them?
MR. ZOGBY: There are the very wealthy and there are the very poor, but in between there are young Arabs who are in positions where they are working for locally developed businesses as well as foreign businesses that exists. We're in the process right now of doing a very large study throughout the Gulf region for McKenzie in which we define in greater detail what this middle class is. However, it is enough evidence to suggest that whatever the definition of that middle class is and will be it will be different than the way we define middle class.
On one hand there are aspirations for a better future. On the other hand, they are still tied to significant traditional values. The middle class is not defined by income is what we're finding preliminarily but defined rather in much the same way that it's defined here by optimism for the future, a sense that there is hope where there wasn't hope. However this is a sophisticated group because we asked them what are the top problems in your country and they said lack of jobs, lack of opportunities, poverty, all bunched together was named overwhelmingly as the top issue. So it's different and but yet a sophisticated response.
QUESTION: A follow-up question. Did they detail corruption or did they say corruption was one of the --
MR. ZOGBY: Corruption was indeed an issue but it ranked fourth, which is to say that these were the top things on their minds. Which is to say corruption is an issue and we've seen it as an issue in other surveys, but there are other issues that top that. Number two was education.
MR. REINHARD: But it was also interesting to that point when you asked them about the qualities desired in Arab leaders, moral, high moral standards were right at the top.
MR. ZOGBY: Right at the top and well up at the top. I mean, they lead significantly.
QUESTION: Do you know where they get their information about the U.S.? Is it television? It is newspapers? What is it?
MR. ZOGBY: This group in particular -- now understand we didn't get into that in this survey but we do surveys in the region all the time. First and foremost is satellite television. Secondly is the internet. That is among this group. There is a myth perpetrated by official figures on internet access at home, you know, with all respect to UNDP, that publishes these very, very low figures about internet access at home. What we've discovered is that when you change the question to, "Do you have internet access, period?" the numbers are dramatically higher. What is also dramatically higher is those who have internet access of some sort are much more positively disposed towards the United States than those who do not.
MR. REINHARD: We see this as a first step, a blueprint for American business to now say okay, how can we respond to this challenge? With internships, with education and a lot of good ideas are already developing. But to the earlier question about where this study was done, first of all, yes, these are rather, would you say, the elite among young Arabs. We hope eventually to, working with the young Arabs to get to the less literate people with programs including English language training for those who don't speak English because English is still the universal language of business. And then, too, we hope to engage Zogby International in extending this research study about aspirations, professional goals to at least three to five more Arab countries in the coming year.
MODERATOR: If there are no more questions --
MR. ZOGBY: Well, there's one more statement.
MODERATOR: One more statement.
MR. ZOGBY: I didn't want Al Jazeera to be left out. Number three in terms of where they get their information it's from satellite television. And while the numbers are not as dramatic as they are for the internet, greater -- contrary to mythology, the more people are exposed to satellite TV the more they are positively disposed towards the United States as well.
MODERATOR: We have one --
QUESTION: Question. You mention here in your report that job training is one of the most important things that they would like to have and we also understand the visa is one of the most important issues for these students who would like to come to the United States to deal with. What kind of job training program are you able to conduct in UAE to help them get that kind of assistance?
MR. REINHARD: Many of the members of BDA and of course many multinational American companies have a strong presence in the region. And so as I say the challenge is to present this information to them and say how can you best respond to the desire for internship? In the study that John's organization conducted there were a number who said we prefer internships in the United States and a number who said we prefer internships in the region, so we have to see how we do that. There's no question the visa issue is a problem for those who wish to intern in the United States. But again that's another reason for us to apply pressure to the government to do something about this visa policy.
In the meeting we had with the young Arab leaders in New York, one of the ideas which was developed for responding to this need for education and leadership development was the proposal that a leadership development center be established in the region and that U.S. companies get together to really put together a professional leadership center, possibly degree-granting center, so this is all in the very embryonic stages. But now we have at least an indication of what is wanted, what is needed and the challenge is how to respond.
MR. ZOGBY: I'll underscore all of that and also underscore what's implicit behind that is that we're doing the policy completely backwards. This is not an era to be limited visas. This is an era to be welcoming people to the United States. There's a direct relationship between those who have been here and those who want to come here and those who have favorably impression.
But a word about my profession for a minute: Beware of one-dimensional surveys that simply ask what are you overall opinions or attitudes towards the United States? That is just way too general. We learned after 9/11 that what we needed to do was actually parse those attitudes and ask about American science and technology, American-made products, American business, American television. Those aspects of American life and differentiate between those and U.S. Government policy towards countries or crises in the region and what you find is a huge differential.
Now I will say that over the last six years that I have been doing this regular polling that the policy has indeed caused further damage and erosion to the positive attitudes that Arabs and Muslims had started out with towards those aspects of American life. But here you have real genuine proof that at least in terms of this burgeoning young middle class that attitudes -- the United States and U.S. business is still the platinum standard regardless of where the policy is.
MR. REINHARD: And one of the things that's so exciting to us about this study is that other research, not necessarily in the region but throughout Europe and Asia, at least up until last year said that if you want to accentuate the positive about what values are still admired about the United States, two things emerge. One, the American people (inaudible); and two, the American way of business. So here if we can promote internship, mentorship, we get two of those in one program, the American way of business and exchange, as John says, familiarity breeds understanding.
QUESTION: My second question has something to do with China. China was also mentioned in your report as one of the -- a cause, a potential cause for concern. What did you find out about their views towards China? Is China to be posing a threat to the U.S. interests in the region?
MR. ZOGBY: Interesting because that was perhaps a little misleading. There were a lot more slides and a lot more results. We asked which countries are you least disposed to in terms of seeing of assistance to you in your future. China came in number one or the worst. Japan was number two. And the reality, because we followed up with those who cited Japan and China, we asked why. And basically what it was was language confusion and cultural confusion. There was no hostility whatsoever to China or Japan, there was just a greater affinity with the west than there was with the east. And I think that's perfectly understandable. Not hostility by any stretch.
MODERATOR: Keith, John, thank you very much for coming.
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