Covering the big ideas, bold leadership and dynamic economies at the frontlines of global transformation
Event update:
Please note that in light of recent developments across the Gulf region, Global Perspectives: In Doha has been postponed. We will update this page with further information, including the event date, as soon as possible.
Following the success of the inaugural Global Perspectives: On Africa, CNN will bring its events series to the Gulf region with Global Perspectives: In Doha. Convening world leaders, CEOs and cultural visionaries, CNN’s award‑winning journalists will lead an all‑day forum examining a pivotal moment of global transformation, as economic power, technological innovation and cultural influence are reshaped across continents.
From shifting diplomatic alliances to the rapid evolution of emerging markets and transformative cultural movements, the summit will explore how new centres of gravity, including the Gulf, are shaping the next chapter of global technology, diplomacy and culture.
We invite senior executives, business, and culture leaders to request an invitation now. Join us for sharp analysis, dynamic discussions, diverse breakout sessions and high-level networking. This is more than just an event. Editorial content and news-making interviews from the summit will run globally across CNN platforms.
The Gulf’s multidimensional impact on the global stage is no longer just a trend. It is a defining reality of the modern era. From Qatar to Saudi Arabia and the UAE, the region’s influence continues to extend beyond energy and business into technology and global culture, spanning elite sports, entertainment and premier lifestyle hubs. In an era of rapid global transformation, how will the Gulf continue to adapt and, in turn, redefine the world around it?
Global Perspectives: In Doha will examine topics including:
Pioneering Technology
Digital innovation, energy and Al are driving global economic growth and fueling partnership opportunities as investment in new tech and digital infrastructure increases. Â
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Transforming Cultural Legacy
World-class infrastructure, cultural modernization, and sustainability-driven tourism are transforming entertainment, sports and travel destinations.Â
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Forging Alliances
Industry, government leaders, and multilateral organizations will discuss building new coalitions and partnerships amidst shifting spheres of influence.
Global Perspectives is an invitation-only gathering for international decision-makers and influential leaders from across industries, including technology, finance, investment, trade, geopolitics, healthcare, media, entertainment and more. The event will be attended by heads of state, regional and global leaders, and participants can expect to form meaningful connections that will last well beyond the event itself.
The inaugural Global Perspectives summit in November 2025 featured global leaders including Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Director-General, World Trade Organization; Ms. Nadia Calviño, President, European Investment Bank (EIB); H.E. Rania Al-Mashat; Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation of Egypt; H.E. Judith Suminwa Tuluka, Prime Minister, Democratic Republic of Congo; Dr. Mo Ibrahim, Founder and Chair of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation and many more leaders.
This is more than an event – it’s a platform for announcements, news-making interviews, and a high-level meeting place for off-the-record conversations.
Rosewood Doha
First Street 69, Lusail, Qatar
Rosewood Doha is an ultra‑luxury landmark in Lusail’s Marina District, blending contemporary elegance with Qatari heritage. Its coral and pearl‑inspired design, refined interiors, Gulf views, and world‑class hospitality create a distinctive, elevated setting.
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Sir Mark Thompson is Chairman and CEO of CNN Worldwide where he oversees all aspects of the business in the U.S. and around the world. He also serves as the editor-in-chief of CNN.
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Sir Mark stepped down as President and CEO of The New York Times Company in the summer of 2020 after an eight-year tenure during which he led the transformation of the 170-year-old news brand into a digital powerhouse.
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Sir Mark’s appointment at The New York Times Company followed an eight-year term as Director General (Editor-in-Chief and Chief Executive) of the BBC. As well as guiding the BBC’s coverage of the global financial crisis and the 2012 London Olympic Games, he is credited with major advances in the BBC’s digital offering and digital audience reach, including the successful launch of the BBC’s iPlayer, one of the world’s first streaming services from a major broadcaster (2007).
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He joined the BBC from Channel 4 where he was Chief Executive from 2002 to 2004. Before Channel 4 he held a series of senior posts at the BBC including Editor of The Nine O’clock News and Panorama, Controller of BBC Two and Director of Television.
Richard Quest is CNN’s foremost international business correspondent and anchor of Quest Means Business, the definitive word on how we earn and spend our money.
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Quest also serves as CNN Business editor-at-large, and is the network’s established airline and aviation correspondent, having interviewed all of the major airline executives.
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Additionally, Quest is the host of CNN International’s signature monthly feature program Quest’s World of Wonder, an immersive travel series that finds him exploring a new destination each month and meeting fascinating people who reveal the heart of that city.
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Quest’s dynamic and distinctive style has made him a unique figure in the field of business broadcasting. He has regularly reported from G20 meetings and attends the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland each year. Quest has covered every major stock market and financial crisis since Black Monday in 1987 and has reported from key financial centers globally including Wall Street, London, Sao Paolo, Tokyo and Hong Kong.
Becky Anderson is one of CNN International’s highest profile anchors. She hosts Connect the World with Becky Anderson, which airs weekdays at 5:00pm UAE time. She is based at CNN’s Abu Dhabi bureau, where she also serves as Managing Editor.
In these roles Anderson has a distinctive regional perspective on some of today’s most important news stories, including the emerging politico-economic trends in the Gulf, the regional rivalries between Iran and Saudi Arabia and the deepening humanitarian crisis stemming from years of political instability in Syria and Iraq.
Anderson is a skilled interviewer, adept at close questioning and has interviewed many of the world’s leading politicians, decision-makers and thought-leaders. She has conducted one-on-one interviews with top world leaders including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir, Emirati Foreign Minister Sheikh Abudllah bin Zayed, Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed Al Thani, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and leading humanitarian leaders such as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. She is equally at home with celebrities, quizzing the world’s A-listers, including Jennifer Lopez, Will.i.Am, Akon, Oprah Winfrey, Juliette Binoche, Andrew Lloyd-Weber, Beyoncé, George Clooney, Lady Gaga, Tom Hanks, Javier Bardem and Brad Pitt.
Since moving Connect the World to Abu Dhabi, Anderson has spent much of her time travelling across the Middle East at an extraordinary time of upheaval and change. Anderson and the team were the first team to broadcast from Riyadh after the ban on women driving were lifted. She has broadcast special shows from Tehran to Jerusalem, from Istanbul to Beirut, bringing a range of interviews, reports and packages to CNN International viewers around the globe.
Anderson has extensive business journalism experience including posts with the UK’s ITN, CNBC Europe and Bloomberg. She began her career in journalism as a print reporter with various business publications in Arizona, after gaining a Master of Mass Communication from the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism at Arizona State University in 1992 and in 2012 was inducted into their hall of fame. She gained her BA (Hons) in Economics at Sussex University in the UK.
Fred Pleitgen is a CNN Senior International Correspondent based in Berlin. He has been pivotal to CNN’s on-the-ground coverage of nearly every major story in Europe and the Middle East over the past two decades, including Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, multiple European elections, the Syrian civil war, and the Arab Spring. Pleitgen has extensively reported from inside Iran, and in 2025 was the first Western journalist to enter the country since the start of its conflict with Israel. He has also closely covered Russia and the rule of President Vladimir Putin.
Christiane Amanpour is CNN’s chief international anchor, host of the network’s flagship global affairs program Amanpour which airs weekdays on CNN International and on PBS in the United States. She is also host of the Saturday show The Amanpour Hour.
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Amanpour’s fearless and uncompromising reporting from warzones and sites of natural disasters around the world over the past four decades has made her one of the most recognizable and iconic journalists in the world.
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Throughout her time at CNN, she has secured countless exclusive and hard-to-get interviews with the global leaders, newsmakers and cultural icons shaping our world.
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Amanpour has earned every major television journalism award including 16 News and Documentary Emmy Awards, four Peabody Awards, two George Polk Awards, three duPont-Columbia Awards and the IWMF’s Courage in Journalism Award. She has received nine honorary degrees, has been named a CBE and was inducted into the Cable Hall of Fame. In 2023, she was honored with the Columbia Journalism Award, the highest award bestowed by Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, and with the President’s Award from the Overseas Press Club.
Eleni Giokos is a CNN anchor and correspondent, based in the UAE. A regular anchor across CNN’s news and business programming, she also presents the network’s Connecting Africa and Marketplace Middle East feature shows.
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Born in Greece and raised in South Africa, she has more than 15 years’ experience working across TV, digital, radio and print media, and is one of CNN’s most versatile correspondents.
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Giokos has interviewed countless heads of state over the years, including Rwandan President Paul Kagame, former South African President Jacob Zuma, and former Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan, to name just a few. Her list of business interviews includes the likes of International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva, European Central Bank president Christine Lagarde, and Virgin founder Richard Branson; as well as a ‘who’s who?’ of Africa’s most prominent business leaders.
Bijan Hosseini is a Senior Producer for CNN International Productions, working on feature shows, television segments, and digital videos spanning the globe. He is currently based in Doha, Qatar, as a member of the CNN Creators team – a multi-platform programming initiative which explores conversations capturing the zeitgeist, with a focus on AI, tech, and social trends. Hosseini also hosts CNN half-hour feature programs and engaging social video series, reaching audiences worldwide.
Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is the Director-General of the World Trade Organisation. The first woman and first African to hold the position.
She is an economist and international development expert with over 40 years of experience. Dr Okonjo-Iweala was Chair of the Board of Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, African Risk Capacity and Co-Chair of The Global Commission on the Economy and Climate, in addition to serving as a Senior Advisor at Lazard and sitting on the Boards of Standard Chartered and Twitter, now X. She is Co-Chair of the Global Commission on the Economics of Water, a Distinguished Visiting Fellow at the Brookings Institution and a Harvard Kennedy School Global Public Leader.
She served as Nigeria’s first female and longest serving Finance Minister (7 years) and was also the first female Foreign Minister. Her 25-year career at the World Bank culminated in her rising to the No.2 position of Managing Director, Operations.
Dr Okonjo-Iweala is the recipient of numerous honours and has authored several books. She holds a Bachelor’s in Economics from Harvard University and a PhD in Regional Economics and Development from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Caroline Faraj, CNN Vice President and CNN Arabic Editor-in-Chief, is an award-winning journalist with over 30 years’ experience. She was named winner of the Arab Woman of the year Awards 2022 as a leader in media, and in 2021 she won the Arab Woman Awards/ media category in the UAE. Based in Dubai, Faraj has overseen the content and management of CNN Arabic since she launched it in 2002, steering it during periods of major regional upheaval including the US-led invasion of Iraq, the Arab Spring, the rise of ISIS, and the Israel-Hamas war.