International Institute for Strategic Studies The IISS Regional Security Summit

The International Institute for Strategic Studies

Tuesday 06 January 2009

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The IISS Regional Security Summit

Conferences

The IISS will convene the 5th Regional Security Summit: The Manama Dialogue, from 12 to 14 December 2008. This event will take place at the conclusion of the 50th anniversay year of the IISS.

Organised annually, the IISS Manama Dialogue provides a forum for the national security establishments of the participating states to exchange views on regional security challenges. It is a unique forum in that it is made up of governmental delegations from over 20 countries, including not only the states of the region and the immediate neighbourhood, but also the outside powers with security interests in the Gulf.

The Manama Dialogue provides opportunities for government leaders to deliver vitally important public statements about the evolving policy approaches to regional security. Crucially, it also facilitates private bilateral and multilateral meetings between participating states in order to advance immediate policy goals. Against

this background, senior officials are able to engage with the leading experts in the region in a manner that can help to animate fresh policy thinking.

The 5th anniversary meeting will draw together the highest concentration to date of policy-makers involved in regional security, and delegations will once again comprise a measured blend of prime ministers, defence ministers, foreign ministers, national security advisors, and military and intelligence chiefs.

The Manama Dialogue process is maturing into the most important regional security meeting in the Middle East and, in a current cycle hosted by the Kingdom of Bahrain through to 2011, is an excellent anchor for regional security diplomacy.

See the extended summary for the IISS Regional Security Summit.

Summit Reports

The IISS has compiled report on the summits held in 2005, 2006 and 2007 containing details of the plenary sessions and a flavour of the discussions in the breakout groups.