Gates to lead US delegation to Manama Dialogue

Manama:  US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates will for the third consecutive time lead the US delegation to the Manama Dialogue in December in a clear indication of the importance the US is attaching to the annual security conference.

The French, who have repeatedly said that Europe should play a bigger role in the region, will also enhance their participation and will most likely send their foreign minister Bernard Kouchner, diplomats told Gulf News.

Iran, often presented as the arch nemesis of the US in the region, said that it would take part in the three-day conference on December 11-13, but wanted an official invitation from the Bahraini foreign ministry. The request, according to diplomats, will be easily satisfied with Bahrain being an ardent supporter of stability and dialogue in the troubled region.

“However, we have to wait to see if the Iranians will really come. In 2007, they said that they would come, but cancelled their participation at the last moment, with the conference hours from its start,” the sources said.

The Iranians later attributed their conspicuous absence to the busy schedule of the head of their delegation, foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki, but diplomats told Gulf News that they were upset over the refusal of the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS), the organisers of the Manama Dialogue, to extend an invitation to the Iranian Foreign Ministry's Institute for Political and International Studies (IPIS).

The institute had organised in Tehran a conference of Holocaust deniers, attended by participants from 30 countries, including several from Europe, and Jews from the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta sect who argued that the Holocaust was either fabricated or exaggerated Kouchner’s participation in the conference would be in line with the French drive for a stronger presence in the Arabian Gulf region. In 2005, then French Defence Minister Michele Alliot-Marie called for a strategic co-operation between Europe and the Gulf.

"A multipolar world is developing rapidly. Europe is a political player which is establishing itself in the security field and is enjoying a real experience. It can offer useful cooperation tools to partners in the area,” she told the Manama Dialogue. “I do believe that it is high time for the European countries and the Gulf neighbouring countries to reinforce their cooperation in this field, in order to contribute together to the stability of this area which is vital for the world.”

The state of Iran-US relations, the future framework of Gulf security and security challenges in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan will top the conference agenda.

Leaders and decision makers from more than 20 countries will also address maritime security, military transformation and security cooperation in the Gulf, and the role of non-state actors in six plenary sessions and group discussions dedicated to issues related to security in the Gulf, IISS sources said.

However, no special plenary session or even break-up group discussion has been designated to an exclusive debate over Iran and its perceived role in the region, a theme that had dominated past regional security discussions.

In September, the IISS announced a major expansion of its Middle East initiatives and programmes with the establishment of a regional branch office for the Middle East in Manama.