Second IISS Regional Security Summit
The Gulf Dialogue
Opening Remarks
Dr John Chipman CMG
Director
Welcome to the Second IISS Regional Security Summit, in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
The inaugural IISS Dialogue in this region was held in Bahrain, in December last year. I want immediately to pay tribute to the Kingdom of Bahrain for their enthusiastic support for this innovation in regional security diplomacy.
We were motivated to initiate this summit meeting of the national security establishments of the participating states by the success the IISS has achieved in Asia at the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue. Taking place every year since its inception in 2002, this is a summit that, uniquely, brings together the defence ministers, chiefs of staff, intelligence leaders and other security officials from the Asia-Pacific region and key outside powers. The Shangri-La Dialogue has now become an informal institution and is recognised as the principal vehicle in the Asia-Pacific region for high-level defence diplomacy. I take pleasure in recognising in the hall tonight, Deputy Prime Minister Professor Jayakumar of Singapore, the host state of the Shangri-La Dialogue.
Building on that experience, the IISS took the view that there was a gap to be filled in the security consultations in this region. Three considerations governed our thinking.
Firstly, the heads of state, and many different ministers of the six members of the Gulf Co-operation Council meet regularly. However, GCC security consultations, quite understandably, do not involve states who are not members of that organisation. In particular, they do not involve the security establishment of Yemen, which borders a number of GCC states, or the two large countries to the east and north: Iran and Iraq.
Stable relations between these nine countries would form the basis of regional security, hence the formula the IISS adopted: ‘six plus one plus two’ that inspired our invitations to the relevant regional national security establishments to attend this Dialogue.
Secondly, a number of countries from outside the region have key security relationships with these regional states and also have diplomatic and economic roles that intimately affect the shape of regional stability.
In order to ensure that the regional perspective was understood by outside powers and that the policies of outside powers could be explained to the region, in the region, we extended invitations to the United States, the UK, France, Russia, China, Germany, Japan, India, Australia and Singapore.
Thirdly, security is not the preserve of any single ministry in these countries: national security advisors, defence, interior, and foreign ministers have a role, as do intelligence chiefs. To limit invitations to any one agency would not permit a rounded discussion of regional security challenges.
Hence our determination to organise this event as a summit meeting of the national security establishments of the participating states.
The nineteen states gathered here are taking part in a meeting 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 regional 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 privately to 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.
The 2004 Dialogue was an experiment. The presence here of more ministers, more officials, from more countries is proof that the experiment succeeded. Our hope is that this Dialogue will become institutionalised as the key event for regional security diplomacy. To support that goal, the IISS will produce a comprehensive report on this year’s event for circulation to all delegates and will plan to hold, in mid-2006, a meeting of senior officials from the participating countries to review the conclusions from this year and help to develop the agenda for the 2006 Dialogue.
In closing, let me say that this Dialogue could not take place without the tremendous support of the Kingdom of Bahrain, and in particular the personal commitment to its success of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa.
Now, allow me to welcome to the podium His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al Khalifa. He is a great friend of the IISS and of this Dialogue and it is a delight for me to ask him to make some remarks and introduce our guest speaker. Sheikh Khalid.
