Gulf countries to adapt strategies to new challenges

Manama: Bahrain's foreign minister on Tuesday stressed the significance of changing some Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) security and military strategies.

Local and regional securities for the GCC countries are closely intertwined and the need for change is linked to the current conditions and challenges in the area, said Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa.

 As conditions and threats keep on changing, all countries adopt new strategies and new approaches, Shaikh Khalid said on the sidelines of the two-day GCC National and Regional Security Conference in Bahrain.

"The GCC is a significant component of the Arab security entity and has operated within this framework for 30 years. It cannot distance itself from it," he said.

The two-day conference, organized by the Bahrain Center for Strategic, International and Energy Studies, is bringing together senior politicians and security officials from the six-member GCC to discuss national and regional security from a geo-political perspective, internal and external threats to the GCC security and the strategic conceptualisation of the GCC security.