LONDON, Nov. 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Governments from the Persian Gulf region and key external powers are finalising plans to discuss some of the region's most pressing security concerns next month at the 2006 IISS Manama Dialogue, which will take place in Manama, Bahrain from Dec. 8-10.
In order to recognise the support of the Kingdom of Bahrain in establishing the IISS Gulf Dialogue in its first three-year cycle, the IISS has renamed the summit the Manama Dialogue. This regional security summit will further establish the importance of the dialogue as the main vehicle for regional security diplomacy.
The 2006 Manama Dialogue is the primary security institution in the Persian Gulf and will see the greatest ever involvement of the national security establishments of the region with key outside powers. As in previous years, the dialogue will provide a unique forum for the discussion of the regional security challenges by the most senior authorities responsible for defence, foreign policy and security issues in the participating states.
The summit will formally open on Friday, Dec. 8, with an on- the-record Keynote Address by the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Bahrain, His Highness Sheikh Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa. The programme for Saturday, Dec. 9 will include three on-the-record plenary sessions, to be addressed by delegation leaders: The US and Gulf Security; Regional Perceptions of Gulf Security and The Gulf and the East. On Saturday, the US National Security Adviser, Stephen Hadley, will make a key statement on US security strategy in the Persian Gulf. Officials and experts will then conduct private discussions which will remain off the record, exploring three themes: Energy and Maritime Security; Demographics, Sectarianism and Gulf Security and Security Guarantees and Regional Stability. The dialogue will conclude on Sunday, Dec. 10 with three further on-the-record plenary sessions: The Situation in Iraq; The Gulf and Europe and Iran and Outside Powers. Delegation leaders from the other participating countries will also deliver official policy statements throughout the course of the weekend.
The Manama Dialogue will bring together all elements of the national security establishments from the countries of the region -- Bahrain, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Yemen -- with the major outside powers, Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan, India, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States, to advance bilateral and multilateral diplomacy. In all, over 20 countries will send official delegations to take advantage of the Manama Dialogue to advance bilateral and multilateral diplomacy.
All national delegations from the GCC will be led by ministers, national security advisers and other senior security officials closely involved in managing security challenges. European ministers of defence and foreign affairs will attend as will the national security advisers from Japan, India and Russia. These leaders will engage with their opposite numbers from Iran, Iraq and Yemen and with others participating from outside the region.
The strength and appeal of the Manama Dialogue lies in its unique format. The Manama Dialogue is designed as four events rolled into one. Firstly, the plenary sessions offer a public platform for ministers and national security advisers to clarify and expand on government policy before an expert audience that includes parliamentarians, leading opinion formers from all participating countries, former government officials and carefully selected media representatives, thus informing and refining the quality of wider public debate on Gulf security.
Secondly, the break-out groups, attendance at which is restricted to delegation members only, provide an opportunity for officials and experts to analyse pertinent strategic issues more deeply and to advance policy aims in a private and strictly off- the-record environment.
Thirdly, in what is perhaps the most politically useful element of the summit, there is the opportunity for the participating ministers and security officials to gather discreetly and privately for bilateral and multilateral meetings in order 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.
