The 4th IISS Shangri-La Dialogue was successfully concluded on 5 June 2005.
On 3–5 June 2005, the IISS again convened in Singapore the core of the defence and national security establishment of the Asia-Pacific region and leading extra-regional powers. As in previous years, the Shangri-La Dialogue provided, uniquely, the occasion for defence ministers to make public statements on national policy and regional security in the company of their peers and of defence professionals; to address, in private bilateral and multilateral meetings among themselves, pressing regional flashpoints but also matters of long-term defence planning; and, through all of these various deliberations and interactions, to foster the sense of a regional security community that is underpinned by easy communication and contact. In this sense, the rationale of the Shangri-La Dialogue was confirmed and remains unchanged.
In terms of its content and form, nonetheless, the Dialogue has clearly continued to develop in important respects over the last four years. Firstly, the conference is now dominantly a ‘track one’ event, featuring some second-track participation. It has been tightly woven into the regional diplomatic calendar. Secondly, the formal agenda of the Dialogue is now one that compliments broad surveys of grand strategy and geopolitics with tighter, technical discussion of defence policy. Thirdly, the ministers and official delegations that attend the Dialogue, while welcoming the opportunity to make public policy statements, increasingly come with the intention of conducting ‘business’ in private and advancing specific agendas. Finally, participation continues not only to become more senior but also to widen; the 22 official delegations that have taken part in the Dialogue since 2002 were this year for the first time joined by Pakistan, which participated at ministerial level. The 2005 Shangri-La Dialogue was the largest yet.
