On March 16, the preliminary debate revolved around the emergence of new regional powers (Iran, Turkey, Gulf countries), as well as the economic challenges and opportunities for cooperation. At the same time, several sessions were organized to explore the changing media environment in the region, and questions were brought up about the practice of journalism, especially within the context of rapid technological advancements and the preeminence of new social media.

The Casa Árabe delegation included its General Director, Eduardo López Busquets, and the person responsible for the Governability program, Karim Hauser. Attending from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of Spain was Juan José Escobar, Ambassador on a Special Mission for Mediterranean Affairs, in what was possibly the most active European delegation throughout the forum.

The speakers in the various debates originated from a diverse range of fields and schools of thought, from non-governmental organizations to governmental ministries, as well as known voices from the worlds of academia and journalism, and the Arab world’s opposition groups. This became apparent on the second day of the forum, March 17, when speakers included such persons as Wadah Khanfar, President of the Al Sharq Forum and former Director of television network Al Jazeera; Ayman Nour, a leader of the liberal Egyptian party Ghad al Thawra; Khaled Bin Mohammad al Attiyah, the State Minister for International Cooperation of Qatar; David Hearst, Editor-in-Chief of the international section of the British daily newspaper The Guardian; Salah Abdel Maqsoud, Egypt's Minister of Information; Emrullah Isler, a member of the Turkish Parliament; David Tolbert, President of the International Centre for Transitional Justice in New York; Ahmed Aref, spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt, and Ruwaydah Mustafah, a Kurdish blogger for the Huffington Post.

The third and final day included high-level academic discussion over the security challenges in the Arab Spring countries, with the noteworthy participation of Omar Ashour, Director of  Middle Eastern Studies Program at the University of Exeter. There was also in-depth discussion of the Oslo Accords twenty years after their negotiation, with attendance of Mustafa Bargouti, Secretary General of the National Palestinian Initiative; Oliver McTernan, Director of Forward Thinking, and Azzam Tamimi, Director of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought. 

A lively debate over Syria’s future brought an end to the forum, with participation by Abdulbaset Sieda, former director of the Syrian National Council; Vitaly Naumkin, President of the International Center for Strategic and Political Studies in Moscow, and Peter Harling, Project Director at the International Crisis Group, in addition to others. The Managing Director of Al Jazeera, Ahmad Bin Jassim el Thani, brought the gathering to an end. During the event, several socio-political paradigms involving the emerging democracies were questioned, as well as the popular dynamics which are being experienced in the region.