The Arab Development Initiative (ADI) has invited Khaled Al Sabawi, President of MENA Geothermal and General Manager of UCI, to participate in its inaugural summit which aims to envision the future of the Arab World future and its potential. Speaking to an audience of 500 youth leaders, thinkers, and professionals from North America and the Arab world, Mr. Al Sabawi has been invited to be the distinguished speaker under the “Science and Technology” theme. The summit will be held on the 7th, 8th and 9th of October 2011 at Montreal’s McGill University.

The Arab Development Initiative (ADI) is a youth driven initiative that focuses on development in the Arab world. Its mission is to encourage highly skilled and educated Arab youth to direct their efforts toward development in the region. It will act as an intermediary between youth and organizations working for the development of the region by enlisting the expertise of renowned leaders, thinkers, and scholars to identify and evaluate the most pressing obstacles to development in the Arab world, creating opportunities for students to engage in regional development and building a global network of youth dedicated to development efforts in the Arab world and beyond.

Mr. Al Sabawi’s speech will draw the audience’s attention to the energy future in the Arab World and the challenges and obstacles it faces. The speech mainly aims to inspire the youths on how to face these challenges and always look for innovative alternative solutions to overcome the energy problems in the Arab World. An important part of the summit are the vision-building discussions that will take place after the talks, where the youth can exchange points of views about the future of the Arab World and how they can participate in forming its future. Mr. Al Sabawi will give advice to the youths on how take real steps towards achieving their future goals based on the success of his own experience.

Mr. Al Sabawi is the Founder and President of MENA Geothermal, a Palestinian green energy business and the first geothermal business in the MENA region. MENA Geothermal was awarded the National Energy Globe Award in 2008 and is currently installing the largest geothermal system in the Middle East, in Jordan. Mr. Al Sabawi was named “One of the World’s Top Energy Entrepreneurs” by Global Post and was a speaker at this year’s TEDxRamallah. Khaled is also the General Manager of UCI, one of the largest real-estate development companies in Palestine.

The ADI is a non-profit organization affiliated with the Arab Students Association of McGill University and falls under the purview of the Student Society of McGill University.