IISS Announces 2006 Regional Security Summit
Thursday 25 May 2006 09:00 GMT
Agreement signed with the Government of Bahrain
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – 25 MAY 2006 – The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) is delighted to announce today that it has signed an agreement with the Government of Bahrain to hold the 3rd IISS Regional Security Summit from 8 to 10 December 2006 in Manama.
The IISS Regional Security Summit provides a unique forum for the discussion of regional security issues among participating governments whose delegations consist of the most senior authorities responsible for defence, foreign policy and security issues in their countries.
The IISS has already received confirmation from many participating countries that their delegations will be led in 2006 at foreign minister level, while others have confirmed the participation of national security advisers and deputy prime ministers. The 2006 Regional Security Summit (The Manama Dialogue) will see the greatest ever involvement of the national security establishments of the Gulf region with key outside powers and will solidify the importance of the summit as the main vehicle for regional security diplomacy.
The inaugural IISS Regional Security Summit (The Gulf Dialogue) was held in Bahrain in December 2004 and brought together the national security establishments of The Gulf Cooperation Council (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman), the regional powers of Iran, Iraq and Yemen along with key outside countries including the US, France, Russia, UK, Australia, Japan and Singapore. The following year, the governments of India, China and Germany were also involved.
The 2005 IISS Regional Security Summit institutionalised the event as a key feature of defence and security diplomacy for the Gulf region, with ministers highlighting the necessity of making the Summit an annual event. Indeed, the Dialogue’s unique format provides a critical forum for multilateral dialogue on the key issues that shape security policy both regionally and internationally.
The summit is designed as four events rolled into one. Firstly, the plenary sessions offer a platform for ministers and national security advisors to clarify and expand on government policy, and to be challenged by an expert group on policies and assumptions, in this way informing and refining the quality of wider public debate on Gulf security. Secondly, the break-out groups, also involving senior officials, provide a private opportunity for professional discussions to analyse more deeply pertinent strategic issues and to advance policy aims. Thirdly, the bilaterals between national security advisors and ministers allow delegation leaders to privately advance immediate policy goals. Fourthly, the multilateral lunches and dinners help to cultivate the sense of a defence and security community where shared interests can be protected and advanced.
Issues to be addressed at the plenary sessions of this year’s Summit include: The US and Gulf Security; Regional Perceptions of Gulf Security; The Gulf and Europe; The Situation in Iraq; The Gulf and the East; and Iran and the Outside Powers. The break out sessions will address: Energy and Maritime Security; Demographics, Sectarianism and Gulf Security; and Security Guarantees and Regional Stability.
Participation in the IISS Regional Security Summit is by invitation only. For further information please visit the IISS website
www.iiss.org or email
gulfpress@iiss.org.
About The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)
The IISS is an international membership organisation based in London, and is both a limited company in UK law and a registered charity. It has offices in the US and in Singapore that operate under its name with charitable status in each jurisdiction. Founded in 1958, much of the Institute’s early work focused on nuclear deterrence and arms control, and the Institute was influential in setting the intellectual structures for managing the Cold War. Over the last decade the IISS has become a truly global organisation, with individual and corporate members in over one hundred countries. The Institute’s high-profile publications are universally regarded as providing the best independent, internationally sourced information and commentary on the main strategic events touching on national, regional and global security. The IISS owes no allegiance to any government, or to any political or other organisation. The Institute’s conference activities are considered to be at the forefront of public policy development, given that its convening power is such that it can often bring government officials and others together in fora that they could not easily manage for
themselves.
