THE 4th IISS REGIONAL SECURITY SUMMIT
THE MANAMA DIALOGUE
Manama Saturday 8 December 2007
ENERGY AND REGIONAL SECURITY
Opening Remarks
Dr John Chipman CMG,
Director-General and Chief Executive, IISS
The third plenary session for this year’s Manama dialogue is on energy and regional security. Energy and security is often mixed, sometimes even mixed up, in this part of the world. The subject of energy security has become a topic of conversation globally, and the interests in energy security have widened beyond a large group of western industrialised countries, which appeared initially to have the majority stake in energy in this part of the world. It is a truism that the rising powers of Asia now have greater demands for energy, and it is also a truism that the Asia Pacific countries are taking a larger role in discussion about security in this region, and also directly in assisting in building stability in this part of the world. We thought the subject of energy and regional security, examined in the round, was appropriate for this security dialogue, and we are delighted to have representatives of three very important countries speaking to us today. We have Mr N K Narayanan, the National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of India. We have Sheikh Mohammed Al Abdallah Al Sabah, who has taken on a new role in Kuwait, in essence as the Director of Delivery in Kuwait, ensuring that the Amir’s directives and policies are implemented by the Prime Minister and through the Parliament. We have Yuriko Koike, who attended last year’s Manama Dialogue as National Security Advisor to the Prime Minister of Japan, later became Defence Minister, and remains an important member of the LDP in the Japanese Diet. I thank the three of them for coming to this dialogue, and I will invite Mr NK Narayanan to make the first statement.
