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The first AWO conference which was held in Bahrain in 2006 witnessed a donation from Your Highness to set up a network of Arab Women in exile.

Your Highness also launched this network in the second AWO conference held in Abu Dhabi in 2008 after it was floated through the organization earlier in 2007 on the occasion of the Arab Woman Day.

What are the basic objectives of this network? What is the nature of the services it will offer? When is it expected to begin functioning? A – We launched the Network for Arab Women in Diaspora (NAWD) during the first AWO conference in Bahrain in 2006 out of our desire to help Arab women abroad keep in touch with each others, therefore relieving them from the psychological pressure they face away from their homes. The NAWD also facilitates those women to exchange expertise and views and allows, at the same time, the generations born out of the Arab World to build bridge of communication with their Arab and Islamic culture.

Today, I’m extremely happy for the success of this civilisational initiative as the first phase was launched in February 2007. The second phase, which got underway between March to October 2008, saw the collection of data of more than 1000 Arab distinguished academic women in various countries of the world. The third phase was inaugurated at the second AWO conference on 11 November 2008 in Abu Dhabi. This phase will run up to November 2010 and will see direct electronic and telephonic communication with Arab migrant women. The fourth and final phase will feature the direct online dialogue by 2011.

The NAWD focuses its mandate in the three key goals seeking to: *Build data base on Arab migrant professional women with the aim of telling young Arab generations inside the Arab World about their achievements *Inform researchers and decision-makers in mother lands about fields of the specialisations and achievements and take them as channels of cultural contact with the communities they migrate to *Provide information services to the Arab women abroad.