The Washington-based Brookings Institution plans to open an office in the Qatari capital of Doha. Brookings staffers said Qatar would contain the institute's first overseas office.

The staffers said Qatar and Brookings have been discussing a site for the office, directed by Hady Amr, an institute fellow. They said they expected the office to open in 2007.

In 2004, Qatari Emir Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani launched the Qatar-Brookings project, Middle East Newsline reported. Hamad said Brookings would establish a presence in Doha as part of a U.S.-led initiative to establish links with the Islamic world. Qatar contains a significant U.S. military presence.

On Saturday, Brookings and the Qatari Foreign Ministry launched the U.S.-Islamic World Forum in Doha, addressed by Qatari Foreign Minister Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabr Al Thani. Leading Qatari and U.S. analysts were scheduled to address the conference, which ends on Feb. 19.

"There is an urgent need to host dialogues at regular intervals between the two parties as there is a general feeling that their relations are at a historic low point, to the benefit of neither," Brookings project director Stephen Grand said. "The Doha meeting provides a converging point for people from different faiths, attitudes, practices and point of views and the participants share their perceptions."

Martin Indyk, director of Brookings's Saban Center for Middle East Policy, said the Doha facility would reach out to the Islamic world. Indyk said U.S. dialogue with the Islamic world has been hampered by the policies of the Bush administration.

"Even though the environment [of dialogue] is still difficult, we have to work to promote a frank dialogue and reach a better understanding," Indyk said. "We are still bringing people from around the Islamic world and the U.S. together."

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