Manama: The tenth Manama Dialogue, the international security conference held annually in Bahrain, is likely to focus on the spillover from the Syrian war, the role of outside powers in the Gulf and Iran’s nuclear negotiations.

The central themes were discussed by the Preparatory Sherpa Meeting convened by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), the main organisers of the event in the Bahraini capital Manama, as members reflected on the 2014 Manama Dialogue research agenda.

Each year, the IISS Sherpa Meeting launches the Manama Dialogue process which culminates in December with the IISS Regional Security Summit: The Manama Dialogue in Bahrain.

The 2014 agenda will serve as a framework for the Manama Dialogue and research activities of the IISS-Middle East headquarters generating key analysis for regional leaders in defence and diplomacy.

The Manama Dialogue process is an established component of the regional security architecture advancing Gulf policy.

The conference will this year be held on December 5-7.

On May 14, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and US defence ministers held a landmark meeting, the first in six years, which had been proposed by US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel at the 2013 Manama Dialogue.

“As I said at the Manama Dialogue last December, America’s engagement with Gulf nations is intended to support and facilitate, not replace, stronger multilateral ties within the GCC,” Secretary Hagel said at the meeting in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah.

Mark Allworthy, Managing Director, IISS-Middle East said: “In convening these meetings we hope to build an informal dialogue as well as even an enduring network between senior governmental officials where discussions can be detailed and focused but also relaxed and unhindered by the need to reach agreement or finalise a communiqué.”

“This dialogue both feeds and is fed by our own substantive research and completes a virtuous circle,” he said.

IISS senior staff and selected government officials from countries, expected to play a pivotal role in this year’s Manama Dialogue, assessed each of the themes at the preparatory sherpa meeting.

The Manama-based IISS-Middle East office, opened in May 2010, serves as a base for the Institute’s research programmes and activities throughout the region. Headquartered in London, the IISS also has regional offices in Washington and Singapore.