Benefits of Supporting APF

The reasons why Muslim and non-Muslim business leaders will benefit from participating in the program of the Foundation include the following:

• We believe that there are many opportunities for good and profitable business in the arc of South and Southeast Asian countries from Afghanistan in the west to the Philipines and Indonesia in the east. In this arc of countries there are also many young potential leaders who as Fellows of our program could benefit from and contribute to its success. Our goal going forward is to bring our program to this important area of the world to the extent we are able to.
• Meetings and other communications among participants will provide Muslims and non-Muslims with the opportunity to get to know more about each others' goals, business practices, and other values. Meetings can be a highly effective vehicle for building more contacts, networking and uncovering opportunities for doing business together. The Foundation aims to involve business in the effort to promote peaceful mutual respect. This should decrease extremism/terrorism, thereby improving the environment in which to do business.
• The Foundation's meetings focus on action steps which will be proposed, discussed, adopted or rejected. Participants may themselves propose additional action steps. We hope that the participants will seek to the extent feasible to support and help implement action steps. The reason we hope that they will do so is that their implementation will be in their own and their communities' self-interest. The focus on action steps differentiates the Foundation's program from other somewhat similar programs by going well beyond just preparing a report. Examples of action steps which have been adopted are set forth on the Meetings section of the Activities page.
• The business program does not duplicate what others are doing. It focuses on facilitating Muslim/non-Muslim business relationships and promoting peaceful mutual respect, seeking to be a catalyst. It thus makes sense for business leaders, both Muslim and non-Muslim, and other interested people to become participants in our program.