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REGISTRATION Please note that eligibility to attend the Forbes CEO Middle East Forum is strictly limited to C-suite executives and above, and by invitation only. To RSVP, please return the enclosed registration form or register online at www.ceomiddleeast.com. Please direct any questions regarding registration to Jennifer Meeks at +1 212-367-2504.

It is with great pleasure that we invite you to join us at the inaugural Forbes CEO Middle East Forum, taking place February 26-28, 2007. The Forum is presented under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, and we would be honored if you would be our guest at this very special gathering. Given the tremendous opportunities emerging across the Middle East region, we at Forbes, in conjunction with our Host Partner Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company, are bringing together a select group of international business leaders to participate in a three-day event ﬁlled with lively debate and discussion. The Forbes CEO Middle East Forum will deliver relevant, top-quality intelligence and provide unprecedented opportunity for those interested in doing business in the region to engage in the dialogues and relationship-building that make economic growth possible. Please refer to the agenda Driving Growth – Risk and Reward in the Middle East on pages 4-7 for program details and timing. Additional information is available at the forum website www.ceomiddleeast.com. To ensure your participation, simply return the enclosed RSVP form or contact Jennifer Meeks at + 1 212-367-2504 or jmeeks@forbes.com at your earliest convenience. I hope you will be able to join us in Doha. Sincerely,

President and CEO, Forbes Inc.; Editor-in-Chief, Forbes magazine

Upon receipt of your registration, additional details concerning travel and accommodation arrangements will be forthcoming. Please note that travel and accommodation arrangements will be facilitated by the Qatar Expo staff to ensure that Forbes CEO Middle East Forum delegates experience the very best in Qatari hospitality.

VENUE Located in the city’s landmark West Bay Complex, Four Seasons Hotel is an Ofﬁcial Supporter of the Forbes CEO Middle East Forum and, as the conference venue, elevates prestige to new levels. With 232 guestrooms, nearly a quarter of which are suites including ﬁve State Suites and a two-story Royal Suite, the hotel caters to leisure and business travellers. Resourceful multilingual assistance is on hand along with adaptable spaces that are capable of hosting high-tech business presentations as comfortably as gala social occasions. Elegant indoor and open-air terraces host an array of dining options including all-day dining at the Lebanese restaurant and the French Brasserie on the beach. Il Teatro serves Italian cuisine and other choices include the Pool Grill, Après Spa Café, Seasons Tea Lounge, The Library Bar & Cigar Lounge, and Arabica – a coffee and tea bar.

HOST ORGANISER Qatar Expo is a fully owned subsidiary of United Group For Projects and proudly employs a strategic, innovative approach to the future of Qatari tourism, sport, entertainment and industry. In embracing international business and marketing standards, United Group is committed to bringing together diverse and exciting concepts and projects from around the globe. These companies have enviable reputations as leaders in the ﬁelds of conference production, event and exhibition management, project / concept development, industry joint ventures and world class consultancy.

Forbes CEO Middle East Forum

DRIVING GROWTH Risk and Reward in the Middle East A sophisticated business class has emerged in the Middle East. Consider international financial centers springing up in Dubai, Qatar, and Bahrain alone. The value of liquid financial assets in GCC countries has been estimated at $750 billion and this liquidity is flowing into local stock markets, property, infrastructure, and tourism. But will the tale of Middle East growth be threatened by uncertainty and need for reform? What dangers lurk below the surface of the recent oil boom? For the first time the Forbes CEO Forum, which has been an enormous success in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, is coming to the Middle East. This invitation-only, peer-to-peer forum will engage all participants in Forbes’ trademark: straight talk. Whether it is the up-and-coming entrepreneurs that you have never heard of trying to crack noisy global markets; prodding and poking at the mega real estate projects – great 20th century vision or white elephants in the making?; or the financial institutions around the world offering something truly different to meet the demands of Middle East business; Forbes promises to deliver relevant, top-quality intelligence in a threeday event filled with lively debate and discussion. In a volatile world, how can CEOs successfully gauge the risks to move ahead in the oil rich Middle East – be it in business, personal achievement, or economic growth – while reaping the rewards? Can these executives work together to help solve the structural fundamental problems of the region?

AGENDA

SUNDAY, 25 FEBRUARY 4:00 – 8:00 pm

Registration and Cocktails

MONDAY, 26 FEBRUARY 8:00 – 9:15 am

Terrace Breakfast and Welcome

9:15 – 9:30 am

Chairman’s Opening Remarks

9:30 – 10:15 am

Special Onstage Interview

10:15 – 10:35 am

Refreshment Break

10:35 – 11:35 am Hooked on Oil? One day – possibly overnight due to a technical breakthrough – the global appetite for energy will switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. It is one of the most important themes of the 21st century, and top-rate companies, universities, and governments across the globe are currently engaged in a global research race to find an environmentally friendly and cost-effective renewable energy source. Are the Middle East economies prepared for this day? What are the regions’ governments and companies doing to become leaders in this field? What are Middle East companies and governments working on, and are these research efforts leading or lagging the international competition? In short: are the easy profits of oil today lulling Middle East businesses into a false sense of economic well-being, or are they using their wealth wisely today so that they remain at the top of the energy industry even in a post-oil era? 11:35 am – 12:30 pm Keeping Pace with Petrochemicals The multi-billion dollar petrochemicals industry has long been dominated by the west, but the Middle East is catching up fast – the region’s output of ethylene (the main component of plastic) is predicted to rise to 30 metric tons by 2010, accounting for nearly 20% of the world’s predicted consumption. And with cheaper production methods and lower labor costs, the Middle East has a huge advantage over their western competitors. But if the demand for petrochemicals dwindles in Asia, will oversupply result in a trade war with western markets? With the race to develop advanced technology ever quickening, can the Middle East position itself to manage growth and come out on top? 12:30 – 2:00 pm

Lunch

2:00 – 3:00 pm Tomorrow’s Future: Investing in the Next Generation The most significant natural resource in the Middle East may not be petroleum, but its youth. But demographics tell the story of a Middle East that is producing far more babies than jobs. In a world where the U.S., Europe, and other countries face an aging population problem, the Middle East, with its huge youth population, faces the challenge of increasing the productivity of its youth while also meeting the desperate demand for jobs in the region. But with only 20% of Middle East firms training their workers, how can businesses capitalize on this opportunity? Should the government offer incentives to those companies that have training programs? As industry continues to grow and expand how can businesses tap into – and profit from – a potentially

rich resource pool that, if left behind, could have economic and political implications? And what are business and government doing to invest in education and training to address the demographic dilemma? How do you train young workers? Case studies from the Middle East and abroad. 3:00 – 3:45 pm

Special Onstage Interview – Creating a “Knowledge Economy”

3:45 – 4:10 pm

Refreshment Break

4:10 – 5:30 pm Pumping Profits: Oil, Money, and Models Oil-rich Middle East remains especially volatile – how to cope? Join us for simultaneous roundtable discussions led by Forbes editors about the use of oil money in the region. In Saudi Arabia the focus is on reinvestment in oil; in Kuwait the focus is on diversifying investments away from the region; and in Dubai the focus is on investment within the emirate, but diversifying away from oil. The Dubai strategy is starting to be emulated…will it win out? Each group must work together to target the key pressure points that are most critical to their business, and editors will report back to the group. 6:00 – 8:00 pm

Museum of Islamic Art

TUESDAY, 27 FEBRUARY 8:15 – 9:00 am

Breakfast with the Editors

9:00 – 9:15 am

Chairman’s Opening Remarks

9:15 – 10:15 am

A Meeting of Minds – Middle East and the Global Economy

10:15 – 11:15 am

The New Silk Road – Opportunities for Asia and the Middle East

Prominent Saudi investors, led by Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, are paying 2 billion dollars for a stake in China’s second largest state-owned bank while Bahrain’s Gulf Finance House wants to invest up to 1 billion dollars in Singapore’s financial, health, tourism, and leisure industries. The Middle East, flush with cash amidst high oil prices, can provide Asia with capital; Asia, with its abundant low-cost companies, can provide the Middle East with infrastructure and cheap workers. This promising match-up of needs and capabilities is recreating an Internet-era Silk Road stretching from the Middle East to India to China. What are the insiders doing and who is coming in under the radar? Refreshment Break

11:40 am – 12:45 pm

Urban Development Gone Wild

Bottlenecks and gluts; pitfalls and opportunities in urban development. Despite a massive expansion effort, roads and ports are congested and contractors complain of major delays in obtaining materials and manpower. The media and government officials have expressed concern that corners are being cut and public safety may be jeopardized. Traditional low-rise, flat-roofed apartment buildings and old villas get demolished to make way for bigger construction and the supply of available housing has declined, forcing up prices. The sheer scale of these new infrastructure requirements creates imposing challenges to planning, financing, and development. Who will live in this new expensive real estate and how will the infrastructure work? What are the future investment opportunities in the GCC and what risks are involved in investing in this developing market? Is the forward planning adaptable enough, given such dynamic and fast-changing consumer demographics?

AGENDA

11:15 – 11:40 am

AGENDA

12:45 – 2:15 pm

Lunch

2:15 – 3:10 pm The Business of Sport Beautiful scenery, 7-star hotels and white-glove treatment have attracted the likes of professional sports icons such as Tiger Woods and Roger Federer to the Middle East, and the fans are following close behind. Qatar, who played host to the 2006 Asian Games, invested in the infrastructure that such events require – sporting venues, four new hotels, an airport extension, transport planning – but will the Games deliver a lasting social, environmental, and economic legacy not just for Qatar but the whole Middle East region? Or have sporting events become so tied in with nationalism that it has become a matter of pride for countries to secure the right to hold them no matter what the cost? What business and geographic trends are at work in the world of sport? What are the expectations of the development of international academies such as ASPIRE in breeding sports champions of the future? And are the Olympic Games in Qatar’s future? 3:10 – 3:30 pm

Refreshment Break

3:30 – 4:30 pm The Growing Power of Middle East Luxury Luxury products are often associated with glamour, sexuality, and a more-skin-is-better-than-less approach to visual marketing. To access the expanding pockets of wealth in this region, the luxury market will have to reinvent this marketing approach. How is this being done? How far are companies willing to go to adapt their brand communication and even their product offerings? And what, or who, are the failures and successes of this? How is the global perception of brands impacted if different methodologies for effective luxury brand marketing must be implemented to reap Middle East rewards? 4:30 – 5:30 pm The Entrepreneurs You Don’t Know Meet the next-generation entrepreneurs who aim to take you down, or lead you to the future. How do you get started, how do you compete, and what innovative approaches are necessary to succeed? What sort of impact will these young entrepreneurs have outside the Middle East region? Entrepreneurs sound off about the entrepreneurial climate in the Middle East and the world at large. 7:30 –9:00 pm

Dinner – Location to be announced

WEDNESDAY, 28 FEBRUARY 8:15 – 9:00 am

Breakfast

9:00 – 9:15 am

Chairman’s Opening Remarks

9:15 – 10:15 am Media Magic Indian TV stations are expanding in the Middle East; a Chinese-owned TV station that will reach an audience of 400 million has gone on air; and Russia is planning an Arabic-language satellite news channel in a bid to expand its political and commercial influence in the Middle East. Why are so many countries proactively seeking to communicate with the Middle East through media in the Arabic language? Is it desire to quickly placate perceived volatility or a zealousness to tap into the growing population and the rich rewards that come with that access? CEOs who are making these investments in media discuss and debate what the future holds. 10:15 – 10:30 am

Refreshment Break

10:30 – 11:30 am Telecom Boom: A Little Healthy Competition Middle East mobile markets are opening up to competition for the first time. And a wave of telecom market liberalization and massive user demographic increase, coinciding with WTO accession, has seen the rapid emergence of new operators being granted licenses. As a result of significant investments in the expansion and improvement of local infrastructures, demand for telecom services is growing and more technologically diverse services are becoming available. Mobile subscriptions, which grew by 70% in 2005, are taking market share from declining fixed-line markets. The majority of the Middle East has launched 3G services, so where are the opportunities and challenges for incumbent operators, new entrants, and investors? With the deregulating of the monopoly in Qatar, how frenzied will the international telecom interest really be and what are the risks? 11:30 – 11:45 am

Refreshment Break

11:45 am – 12:45 pm Strictly Private or Going Google To IPO or keep it all at home? These days in the U.S. many CEOs are sidestepping onerous regulatory demands and opting to stay out of the public markets. In the Middle East, trends seem to be flowing in the opposite direction. But can private companies effectively compete on a global scale or will going public become inevitable for their survival? As investors seek to expand limited opportunities to invest the huge amounts of capital coming into the Gulf, are we moving towards a future where private equity will be a better source of capital than the public markets? CEOs debate the merits and shortcomings of different paths to financing, focusing on strategies and vehicles to fund their growth. 12:45 – 2:00 pm

Lunch

2:00 – 3:00 pm All in the Family – The Dynamics of Family Business In the Middle East, where 95% of the companies are family-run, how do you move forward without breaking up? Will succession challenges, transitional pressures and competition from outsiders contribute to their eventual decline; or are family businesses on the offensive, fighting to remain competitive in the marketplace? Will employing outside management to run family businesses become the next new trend? Families will discuss their successes and their failures. 3:00 – 3:20 pm

Refreshments

4:30 – 5:15 pm Secrets from CEO Headhunters and Coaches The CEO today faces unrelenting, 24/7 pressures. How do you get both the vision and the execution right, and take necessary risks to move your company forward without making critical mistakes? What are the common hurdles that trip up the majority of CEOs? How can you recover from major strategic blunders or gaffes? How do you handle enemies within your company? What is the best way to implement a succession plan? How can you balance the scales between work and life to benefit both yourself and your company? A panel of top CEO headhunters and executive coaches share their secrets. 5:15 pm

Close of Forum and Cocktails

AGENDA

Breakout Sessions 3:20 – 4:30 pm #1: The Seduction of the Stock Market: One-Night Stand or an Affair to Remember? #2: Mega Realty: Here to Stay #3: Financial Services on the Fast Track #4: Psst…Don’t Tell the Shareholders: Transparency, Governance, Reform, Markets

HOST SPONSORS

QATARI DIAR REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT COMPANY Wholly owned by Qatar Investment Authority, Qatari Diar was incorporated in December 2004 to support Qatar’s growing economy and to coordinate the country’s real estate development priorities. Qatari Diar is a governmentbacked real estate investment company responsible for creating and coordinating financially sound property development opportunities that will generate sustainable and tangible socio-economic benefits. Qatari Diar’s vision is to become the region’s most trusted and effective real estate investment company by focusing its value proposition on the creation of quality, well-planned and desirable developments. Engineer Nasser H. Al Ansari Chief Executive Officer, Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company Nasser Al Ansari, CEO of Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment Company, has a long and distinguished career covering every aspect of the design, analysis, planning, management and promotion of real estate propositions as well as the promotion of private sector investment through privatisation in public services. Prior to his appointment as CEO and Board Member of Qatari Diar, Mr. Al Ansari was technical advisor at the office of the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Before that he was assistant undersecretary for projects development with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture, where his main responsibilities involved assessing the feasibility of development projects throughout Qatar through the preparation and implementation of technical and economic studies. Previously he was project manager responsible for the New Doha International Airport, Doha Port and West Bay Lagoon, and other high profile projects. He began his career as a project coordinator for numerous construction and development projects with the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture. Mr. Al Ansari received a civil engineering degree from the University of Miami. He is a member of the Airport Steering Committee and has been a respected guest speaker at many local and international investment conferences and seminars in recent years.

FORBES Forbes is the publisher of Forbes, the nation’s leading business magazine, and its international edition, Forbes Asia, which together reach a worldwide audience of nearly five million readers. Forbes.com, the company’s Internet business, which is the homepage for the world’s business leaders and the #1 business site on the Web, averages 15 million unique visitors a month. The company also publishes ForbesLife, the magazine’s lifestyle supplement. Other company groups include: Forbes Conference Group; Forbes on Fox, a weekly television program; Forbes Investment Advisory Group; Forbes Newsletter Group; and Forbes Custom Media. There are currently eight local-language editions of Forbes, which are published in: Japan, Korea, China, Russia, Arabia (Dubai), Poland and Turkey. In August 2006, Elevation Partners, a private equity firm, became a minority shareholder in a newly formed company, Forbes Media, LLC, the publisher of Forbes magazine, Forbes.com and other media properties. Steve Forbes President and CEO, Forbes Inc.; Editor-in-Chief, Forbes magazine Steve Forbes is president and CEO of Forbes Inc. and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes magazine. Since Mr. Forbes assumed his position in 1990, the company has expanded to include Forbes Asia, ForbesLife (formerly Forbes FYI ), Forbes.com, Forbes Conference Group, and Forbes Custom Media. He is also chairman of the company’s American Heritage division. Mr. Forbes writes editorials for each issue of Forbes under the heading “Fact and Comment.”

A widely respected economic prognosticator, he is the only writer to have been a four-time winner of the highly prestigious Crystal Owl Award, given by U.S. Steel Corporation to the financial journalist whose economic forecasts for the coming year proved most accurate. In 1996 and 2000, Mr. Forbes campaigned vigorously for the Republican nomination for the Presidency. He is the author of Flat Tax Revolution: Using a Postcard to Abolish the IRS (2005), and A New Birth of Freedom (1999), a book of bold ideas for the new millennium. At Princeton, he was the founding editor of Business Today, which is still being published by Princeton undergraduates. Mr. Forbes serves on the boards of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation, the Heritage Foundation and the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

PREMIER SPONSOR Qtel Qatar Telecom (Qtel), the exclusive telecommunications provider for the State of Qatar, believes in the pursuit of excellence and performance, by putting in place cutting-edge technology and globally benchmarked standards. Qtel provides both residential users and businesses with domestic and international fixed lines, mobile coverage, internet connection, cable television services as well as a broad range of value added services. Qtel is a public company listed on the Doha Securities Market and on other stock exchanges in the Gulf.

SIGNATURE SPONSORS Energy City Qatar At the heart of the Arabian Gulf, witness the first custom-made, fully integrated energy hub. As a nerve center for global oil and the gas industry in the Middle East, Energy City Qatar at Lusail is an advanced city of the future realized today. The resources of Energy City Qatar could lead the development of hydrocarbon industry and transform the potential of the energy sector in the entire region while securing a unique place for Qatar on the global energy map.

CORPORATE SPONSOR BBC World BBC World is the BBCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s international news and information television channel. It provides news, business and sport, plus award-winning current affairs series and documentaries, to a weekly global audience of 65 million viewers. BBC World considers itself to be the key international television broadcaster for the Arab world, where it has very strong distribution figures. The channel can be seen in 63 percent of the homes with multi-channel television in the Middle East, and is available across the region on satellite and cable.