Shoukry also attended the 13th annual Saban Forum at Brookings’ Center for Middle East Policy, titled “Challenges for the Trump Administration in the Middle East.” The forum also featured remarks by Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman, and US Secretary of State John Kerry. In his speech, Shoukry said Egypt’s approach to address the “legitimate calls for change” is through “orderly change” and that “compromising the integrity and the stability of the institutions of nation states in the Middle East is not the way to achieve the much needed and much desired change… The challenge, therefore, is to achieve change within the nation states, not on the ruins thereof.” When asked if he believes the Syrian people could accept Assad as their leader he said: “I would think this process should be all inclusive and should take into account the interests of all participants, all segments of Syrian society, but it’s up to the Syrians to decide their future and the manner in which they are governed.” The transcript of Shoukry’s comments can be found here.