Secretary of State Hillary Clinton addressed the U.S.-Islamic World Forum last Saturday in Doha, Qatar, speaking to an audience that included Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa and Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber. Clinton’s speech emphasized a new approach to U.S.-Islamic relations, an approach she described as resting “on three core pillars: relations based on mutual respect, mutual interest, and mutual responsibility; a shared commitment to universal values; and broad engagement with governments and citizens alike.”

As a part of this new approach, Secretary Clinton discussed a relationship that “includes partnerships in education, science and technology, trade, and agriculture.” Clinton went on to say that both she and the President “believe that education and innovation are the currency of this century. That’s why he announced a new era of engagement with Muslim communities to expand educational opportunities, support entrepreneurs, and promote advances in science and technology.”

The expanded opportunities will include a Global Technology Fund that will “that will provide hundreds of millions of dollars in capital to small and medium-sized businesses throughout the Middle East, Asia, and Africa”; the recently initiated Science Envoy Program; and a NASA program “to give Arab and American engineering students the chance to work together on NASA missions.” Along with these initiatives, Clinton also reiterated the work that will continue into the future with newly appointed envoys:

And we want more partnerships with the private sector, universities, foundations, and people-to-people engagement. Our Special Representative for Muslim Communities, Farah Pandith, who leads our engagement with Muslims worldwide, not just in the places you would expect it, but in Europe, as well, is here today. And we are very pleased that President Obama announced our Special Envoy to the OIC, Rashad Hussein…who will help drive progress across the range of issues that the OIC addresses.

In addition to these remarks about exchange and engagement, Secretary Clinton’s speech touched on five challenges facing the U.S.-Islamic relationship, including women’s rights, the Middle East Peace Process, Iran, freedom of religion, and U.S. military engagement in the region.