THE 4th IISS REGIONAL SECURITY SUMMIT
THE MANAMA DIALOGUE
Manama Saturday 8 December 2007
GCC SECURITY AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Sh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jaber Al Thani,
Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Qatar
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Clement, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like first to express my great thanks and gratitude to the government of Bahrain for convening this conference and for the generous hospitality and the friendly welcome that we have received since arriving in our second country, the friendly kingdom of Bahrain. I was supposed to address today, in this meeting, the issue of energy and regional security. However, responding to the request of Bahrain’s officials, I will address the issue of economic development and GCC States security, an issue that constituted the core topic of the inaugural speech of his Highness, Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar at the 28th GCC summit held in Qatar few days ago.
The Arab Gulf region is the main resource for essential energy, and as such it constitutes the heart of the global economy holding about 60 % of global oil reserves and about 40 % of natural gas reserves. Therefore, the challenges faced by the region can no more be considered as a regional issue, but indeed as a matter that endangers global security as a whole. The question that can obviously be asked in this regard is: “Did this economic reality play a positive role in enhancing the security in the region?” We, in the State of Qatar, consider that what the Arabic Gulf region is going through in ordeals and crises and what the region’s populations are suffering in poverty and wars, coupled with the plurality of the parties and the divergence in their interests, including the transcontinental companies, disturbed the stability and the harmony and deepened the gap between all parties. The controversy over the Iranian nuclear program worsened the situation and led us to a stage that requires, from everyone and for everyone’s interest, to resort to reason and logic arbitration and to reassess its own plans before it is too late. This orientation will allow us to use the available resources in the best way to achieve the emerging economic development. These realities bind all of us, regional populations and influent States, to deploy necessary efforts to achieve development. The lack of development does not only threaten populations economic growth but also endangers security.
The protection of our common interests requires, in the first instance, to resolve issues from which regional populations are still suffering and which have led new and extraneous phenomena that threaten regional and global security. The first of these phenomena is terrorism.
History proves that force alone never brings stability and that dialogue and discussion based on peaceful cohabitation, mutual respect and non-interference in others’ internal affairs, are the soundest ways to resolve problems whatever their reasons or backgrounds.
We hope that the dialogue will prevail over the accusative language, that the will to achieve common interests will prevail over confrontation, and that the environment of cooperation will lead to the protection of regional security. We will not manage to resolve any of our pending problems if we do not set the strategic importance of the region as a priority.
Therefore, we in the State of Qatar welcome interactive, frank and constructive dialogue like the initiative gathering us today and we consider it an active means to face the issues requiring joint efforts and experiences and the exchange of views. This is where the sense of our participation in this conference lies, that we wish to reach constructive outcomes. We also hope that we will benefit in the future from this conference in a practical way to ensure the security of our region and population. This is the modest message of the State of Qatar and I am ready to answer any question or request for clarification.
