Introduction
Dr John Chipman, Director-General and Chief Executive, IISS
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for beginning your return from the coffee break. We are keen to begin this session to ensure that we have all possible time for questions and answers and dialogue. We want ideas to be properly aired and proposals to be fully examined; for that we need to ensure an egalitarian approach to this Manama Dialogue where we give each session the same amount of time. We were delighted, and it was a special privilege for us, to attend the opening dinner of this Manama Dialogue … the freshly appointed speaker of the Iraqi parliament, Mr Nujaifi, who made enormous efforts to get from Iraq to Manama last night and had three very high-level bilateral meetings late last night. The continued efforts to form a government in Bahgdad have required him to return to Iraq. He wanted me to state to all of you how much he enjoyed his association with the Manama Dialogue last night, and the speaker of the Iraqi dialogue regrets not being able to make some remarks today, but that was an intention he fully had and all of us must understand the continued political activity in Iraq which requires his presence there. We are really fortunate to have three very distinguished personalities to discuss the issues of regional conflict and outside powers.
For his first appearance at the Manama Dialogue I’m delighted to receive here Franco Frattini, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Italy, a country that has developed over time a very special relationship broadly with the Middle East and specifically with the Gulf. Very often when I am travelling through the Gulf, I see in one corner of my eye Franco Frattini because his own personal efforts at diplomacy in this region are really very energetic and committed.
It is also an extraordinary privilege to have with us the Foreign Minister of Yemen. Yemen is a country to which some reference has already been made at this Dialogue. There is a Friends of Yemen group, GCC (Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf) activity with Yemen, both group and bilaterally, and the Foreign Minister of Yemen is really welcome at this Manama Dialogue to give a Yemeni perspective on how the challenges of governance and the building of security can proceed in his country in fair and equal collaboration with the international community.
One of the privileges that the IISS has is being able to receive so regularly top military commanders in our councils, and often in the past we have had the United States Central Command (USCENTCOM) Commander and we are delighted that this tradition is being so elegantly maintained by General Mattis, who is here with us today. Recently, General Mattis was appointed as CENTCOM Commander, a person with an extraordinary area of responsibility that covers so many of the countries and issues represented in this room and by this gathering. We very much look forward to his remarks and also the debate that they will engender.
Could I first ask the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Italy to make his remarks. Thank you, sir.
Franco Frattini, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Italy
Ladies and gentlemen, I am very delighted to be here. Thank you very much to IISS for the invitation and to the Bahrain authorities and to my friend Sheikh Khalid for the excellent organisation. I would like to start with the consideration that security architecture remains dispersive and fragmentary, for many reasons. Most of these are because, over the last few decades, new and dramatic security concerns have been added to the old ones. Today’s new threats consist of a network of potentially interconnected factors of instability, terrorism, the trafficking of people, organised crime and nuclear proliferation. However, this fragmentation is aggravated by the difficulty of devising a comprehensive approach to these new threats.
A comprehensive approach requires a positive commitment to move from a simple cooperation to partnerships which are based on equality of partners and mutual understanding, therefore creating and fostering mutual trust.
What is happening now with the Wikileaks release cannot be relegated to the sphere of simple threats to the security of information and communication. They are an attack, as Hillary Clinton said yesterday, against the stability of [the] international community. If the leaks foster mistrust they could strain international relations, causing a dangerous reticence in discussions and eventually leading to a stalemate in negotiations, with destructive consequences for our security prospects.
Since regional crises affect all of us, regional cooperation is the key to succeed. Reality tells us that security is a good that should be shared rather than accumulated in one corner of the world. The outcome of the domestic situation in Iraq, Afghanistan or Pakistan is of fundamental importance for both the Western and the Gulf States, and not just because of the great swing it might cause in the balance of power in the region. It is no longer the ‘great game’ but our own security that is at stake. This is why my country, Italy, has not left Afghanistan, Iraq or Pakistan to their own fate. Italy is still committed to contribute, ensuring their stable and safe growth.
Our engagement reflects our holistic approach to security. My country is convinced that security cannot just be provided by outside powers and armies. Security is not only about military capacity; it is also about institution building, ownership, social cohesion, rights and partnerships. There also has to be good and positive communication to public opinions highlighting the good results achieved and not only the challenges ahead of us. Terrorists and extremists want a clash of civilisations but we should understand th,mat they are outside and against civilisation; I mean the one made of dialogue, mutual respect, full consideration for the rights of all human beings including the right to profess their religion freely. Therefore we should underscore, when addressing common security issues, the importance of regional cooperation which can guarantee reasonable prospects of development through enhanced integration.
I see in this context the importance of addressing this regionally, not only locally, the root causes. These include poverty, cultural gaps and a sense of injustice which can lead people to frustration and then violence.
For example, we cannot properly address maritime security and piracy if we do not first fight on the land the arc of instability in the Horn of Africa and North Sahara by promoting growth and jobs there, and by protecting Yemen from infiltrations and contributing to its development under the aegis of a legitimate Yemeni government.
A second example is, if and when Iran cooperates with the international community in a transparent way, everybody in this region will win. The Gulf states will enjoy a safe and prosperous neighbourhood with a cooperative regional player; and Iran, as a respected not feared actor, will contribute to the stability of a key region of the world.
However, on these, we should work on how to make Gulf states fully aware of ongoing processes by engaging them in full; an engagement we strongly recommended once again last year in Rome when the GCC held its annual meeting there. In conclusion ladies and gentlemen, political leaders should show greater determination by taking a comprehensive and more inclusive approach in addressing the new challenges security faces. Dialogue is a value that we must preserve and promote together against those who want to destroy our hopes and common understandings. Thank you very much.
Dr John Chipman
Minister, thank you very much.
