Photo Credit: Queen Rania/Facebook/

HM Queen Rania Al Abdullah is in Paris this week and today she open the  MEDEF's youth-themed Summer University. During her speech, she encourage and urged 2000+ foreign and European diplomats and attendees to recognize the potential and capabilities of Arab youth and resist extremist influence

Off to #UEMEDEF15 with a simple message: Arab youth can reshape and rebrand the Arab world. All we need is to invest and believe in them

— Rania Al Abdullah (@QueenRania) August 26, 2015

Her Majesty was accompanied by Princess Iman and began her speech by recalling His Majesty the King's 2008 speech when he attended the events when he share his vision of peace and prosperity in which she re-inforced the same vision.

Acccording to Petra,she also said " Her Majesty added that a lot has changed since, "the geo-political landscape of the Middle East has undergone seismic shifts threatening not just our region but way beyond our borders." Instability and conflict have affected the region deeply, she explained, especially in the tourism sector and trade income, not to mention record numbers of displaced refugees, which alone are a burden to host countries. She further warned that extremists groups are not only creating havoc in the region, but also negatively influencing global perceptions of the region.

"The so-called Islamic State," she said, "continues to spread its evil ideology with terror tactics, not only maligning Islam and Muslims at every turn but changing global perceptions of our region." To prove this point, Her Majesty asked audience members to participate in a word association game and challenged her listeners to think of the first thing that comes to mind when they hear the words "Middle East" and "Muslim." Her Majesty insisted that although there is a military effort to defeat Daesh, Muslims must do more on the ideological front. "We’re not actively helping Daesh," she told the audience, "but we’re not actively stopping them either. And we can’t stand against them until we, as Muslims, agree on what we stand for and how we tackle this extremist ideology growing on the fringes of our peaceful, compassionate faith." Queen Rania acknowledged that negative perceptions of the region compound what is already a harsh reality on the ground. She told her audience that the Arab region is facing a time of great peril. Quoting French poet and novelist Victor Hugo’s words "Great perils have this beauty, that they bring to light the fraternity of strangers.", she urged the audience to reach out to the Arab world: "My region needs that global fraternity, now more than ever." In particular, the region’s youth need the world to believe in them, and in their power and potential to transform the region. Her Majesty emphasized that young people are driving the region forward, and discussed how many are taking initiative and starting their own businesses as a way to overcome high unemployment rates, among other obstacles. She described the young entrepreneurs and innovators as "hungry for success and eager to leverage the new digital landscape," naming a few examples of Arab websites, apps and platforms that have made a global impact."

لا يوجد وقت أفضل من الآن للاستثمار في المنطقة فالمكاسب كبيرة سواء مادية أو اجتماعية أو أخلاقية http://t.co/EkkMxsZBIT pic.twitter.com/1W0ZZnPirJ

— Rania Al Abdullah (@QueenRania) August 26, 2015

We might as well steal Her Majesty selfie techniques

Photo Credit: Queen Rania/Facebook

العيال كبرت My little chicks 🐣🐣 #Selfie #Mother #Daughter #Moment

A photo posted by Queen Rania Al Abdullah (@queenrania) on Aug 23, 2015 at 10:26am PDT