The Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) is Qatari's Sovereign Wealth Fund, specializing in domestic and foreign investments. It was founded in 2005 to manage the oild and natural gas surpluses by the Government of Qatar. The Qatari sovereign wealth fund is worth more than $ 100 billion, the 14th largest in the world behind those of such countries as Abu Dhabi, China, Kuwait and Russia.

The European political class is heavily influenced by forces outside Europe. Indeed, the influence of the “Arab Lobby” in both London and Paris is much greater than many people understand. The very large pools of liquid capital coming from the Gulf are the lifeblood of the London financial industry, and the Arab countries are vital customers and partners for the French business establishment, which is itself closely aligned with and linked to the French state.

On 5-6 June 2013, the Directorate for the Anti-Corruption Initiative (DACI) of Montenegro organized in Podgorica in collaboration with the Center for Security Cooperation RACVIAC a round table entitled “Prevention of corruption-the implementation of integrity plans.” The roundtable was sponsored by the Office of Technical Assistance and Information Exchange of the European Commission - TAIEX.

A third country is the term used by the European Commission to define any country of the world that is NOT one of the 28 (European Union) member states and EEA-EFTA (European Economic Area (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway )-European Free Trade Association (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland). The meaning is clearest when we are talking about relations between two EU Member States (or between the EU institutions and a Member State) and another country-literally a third country that is outside the European Union.

Third Countries include the following:

The West needs to deal with the Russia that is, not the Russia it might wish for. The best thing that the West can do to promote liberty, the rule of law and good neighbourliness in Russia is to stick to its own standards. Today Russia's elite includes top officers of security services and the armed forces, the industrial military complex, state company leaders and a part of the business class.  They are a mix of statists, imperialists and nationalists. They support a future that is rooted in the imperial past and Christian orthodoxy.

AALEP structural development reflects other work the association is doing and as the association grows and changes, it is necessary to think about its structure. As an organization with long-term goals of expansion, AALEP needed more concrete and clearer divisional responsibilities and authority hence the launch of 5 distinct Divisions:

The Public Policy Advocacy landscape does not just include 'lobbyists' (interest representatives) as meaning parties paid to have a direct personal communication with government officials with the objective to influence policies and decision-making processes.

The reality is that today the public policy advocacy process has become much more sophisticated and often involves large teams of individuals and organizations with various specialties e.g. from lobbying to advocacy strategizing to grassroots management to monitoring and analysis of regulatory and legislative issues.

An organizational structure consists of activities such as task allocation, coordination and supervision, which are directed towards the achievement of organizational aims. It can also be considered as the viewing glass or perspective through which individuals both inside and outside see the organization and its environment. The structure of an organization determines the modes in which it operates and performs. It  allows the allocation of responsibilities for different functions and processes to different Divisions.

AALEP has created a new Division called Strategic Alliances and Partnerships to give even more thrust to its international outreach and forge new relations. The mission of the Strategic Alliances and Partnerships Division will be to align AALEP in unique and rewarding partnerships with country and/or regional associations of public affairs, communications consultants, lobbyists sharing the vision and goals of AALEP.

AALEP has already concluded a number of protocols of co-operation with many associations throughout the world (see links).

AALEP which has developed extensive programmes in Public Policy Advocacy and already provides a very comphensive Executive Certificate in Public Policy Advocacy is now launching its own Academy of Public Policy Advocacy (APPA) to combine all its educational and training resources and services under one roof.