''Forum for the Future Ends in Discord''

Intended to promote Washington's policy of democratizing the Middle East through encouraging economic and political reforms, the Forum for the Future was held in Manama, Bahrain on November 11-12, 2005. The meetings were attended by the foreign ministers of 30 states in the immediate and surrounding regions and the G8 industrial powers, and representatives of international and nongovernmental organizations. Within the immediate region, only Iran boycotted the Forum.

Washington had anticipated confidently that the meetings would produce a joint declaration committing the participating Middle Eastern states to its reform program, but its expectations were dashed when Cairo refused to sign on, objecting to a provision in Washington's package of financial incentives that would have permitted funds to flow to N.G.O.s that were not registered with governments. With Egypt -- which has more than half the population of the Arab world, is a key strategic ally of the U.S. and a major power center in the region, and receives the most foreign aid from the U.S. (US$2 billion per year) after Israel -- bailing out of the bargain, there could be no credible declaration, so the document was shelved.