During his speech titled “Arab world in transition – transitions, challenges and opportunities” at the university of Harvard in Cambridge Massachusetts , marking the start of the Harvard Arab weekend Former Prime Minister of Lebanon Fouad Siniora commented about the Arab Spring by saying.

“I think the The Arab world is currently witnessing an irreversible change . The first and foremost change is the dynamic within the Arab community, which began when the walls of fear and silence collapsed. The launching of revolutionary movements led to more freedom and the formation of governments more representative and accountable: We have seen elections and televised debates and explicit expression of opinion and demonstrations in the streets of these countries, which would have been unthinkable few years ago. The Arab spring has has lifted the lid and genie out of the bottle to freedom. The new leaders have to be accountable to their people. ”

Other speakers at the event included:

Samir Al Rifai, Former Prime Minister of Jordan

Essam Sharaf, Former PM of Egypt

Ayman Asfari, CEO, Petrofac Limited

Said Darwazah, CEO, Hikma Pharmaceuticals PL

Ghada El-Hajj Fuleihan, Professor of Medicine at AUB

Amr Hamzawy, Professor of Political Science at AUC

Antoine Kaldany, Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School

Nassef Sawiris, CEO, Orascom Construction Industries.

A word about Siniora

Siniora , 69 who was born in Sidon started his career as a lecturer in business, financial and accounting management. He also served on the Board of Directors of several banks

Siniora served as Prime Minister of Lebanon from July 2005 until November 2009. Prior to that he served as Lebanon’s Minister of Finance (2000-2004) and Minister of Financial Affairs (1992-1998).

Currently Siniora serves as a Member of Parliament, representing his hometown the city of Sidon, and is the President of the Future parliamentary bloc in the Lebanese parliament.