Manama: Robert Gates, US Secretary of Defence, will lead the US delegation to the fourth Manama Dialogue to be held from December 7 to 9 in Bahrain, sources told Gulf News on Tuesday.
Gates, who took office in December 2006, will talk about The US and the Regional Balance of Power at the first plenary session of the annual forum, which brings together ministers and senior officials from 23 countries to discuss major security issues.
He will be the highest US official to participate in the forum co-organised by Bahrain and the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), and which provides a setting for the discussion of the regional security challenges by senior authorities responsible for defence, foreign policy and security issues.
Gates' participation is expected to signal an increasing US interest in not being eclipsed by other international participants who invariably express concerns over US policies in the politically traumatised Gulf and Middle East regions.
Last year, former US Secretary of Defence William Cohen and former US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage attended the forum, but their presence was overshadowed by Manouchehr Mottaki, Iran's Foreign Minister, who made international headlines by telling participants that "the key to solve Iraq's problems is the withdrawal of foreign forces from Iraq" and that Iran was prepared to talk to the US about Iraq, but only after Washington announced clear plans to withdraw its troops from the country.
Mottaki's statements at the forum reinforced a claim made by another participant, Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, professor of political science at the Emirates University in Dubai, who said the balance of regional power was changing, but not in Washington's favour.
Issue
"The issue is Washington. At the moment, Washington is in a state of confusion … Tehran is talking from a position of power, of confidence, of arrogance," the analysts said.
Iran has been a regular participant at the forum, but the IISS has never invited its main Arab ally, Syria, a major player in Middle East politics.
Initially called the Gulf Dialogue, the forum was last year renamed the Manama Dialogue by the IISS in order "to incorporate the name of the capital of Bahrain into the Dialogue title in recognition of the continued support of Bahrain to this security summit."
Programme
Plenary sessions:
The programme for the forum includes six plenary sessions: The US and the Regional Balance of Power; Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia; Energy and Regional Security, Territorial Integrity, Borders and Regional Security; Iraq and the Neighbourhood; and Framework for Regional Security.
The invitees:
The countries invited to the forum are: Bahrain, Egypt, Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the UAE and Yemen – with the key external powers – Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Pakistan, Russia, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States.
