The Hollings Center (known formally as the International Center for Middle Eastern-Western Dialogue)[1] is a tax exempt, non-profit (501-c-3) organization founded in 2004, through Congress appropriations bills by Senators Ernest F. Hollings (D-SC) and Judd Gregg (R-NH). The organization's main objective is to promote dialogue between the United States, the nations of the Middle East, North Africa, Southwest Asia, Turkey, and other countries with predominantly Muslim populations in order to open channels of communication, deepen cross-cultural understanding, expand people-to-people contacts, and generate new thinking on important international issues. The Center is headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States and Istanbul, Turkey, where conferences are typically convened.[2]