While in Washington to discuss joint programs with the Academies of Science and of Engineering, Serageldin – at the behest of Ambassador Nabil Fahmy -- met with many members of the Washington Establishment. Ambassador Fahmy knew of the widespread interest of many in Washington to know more about the Arab Reform Conference being organized for the 12-14 March 2004 at the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. After explaining the issues, and referring the attendees to the articles published in Al-Ahram Weekly, Serageldin defended the controversial decision to exclude all non-Arabs from the meeting. He reiterated that whatever will emerge from the conference must be 100% home-grown. He paraphrased his famous quote (from his 1995 book “Nurturing Development”), and said that those who wanted to help promote reform must learn to support the societies concerned, not dictate to them… saying that "… reform is like a tree, you make it grow by feeding its roots, not by pulling on its branches".