Any crisis in the Gulf is a crisis for us: Johnson

Manama : “Britain has been part of your story for the past 200 years and we will be with you for the century to come,”  UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said yesterday stressing on the persistence of British-GCC relations in general and Bahraini-British in particular.

During his keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the 12th edition of the Regional Security Summit Bahrain “Manama Dialogue”, the Foreign Secretary emphasised on the new orientation of the British Government to cement its historic relations with countries east of the Suez Canal and mainly GCC states.

“Britain is back to the East of Suez as a nation that is active and deeply connected to the region,” he remarked, adding that there are 1500 British military personnel and seven warships deployed in the region.

He underlined the joint responsibility of the UK and GCC countries to strengthen regional peace and security, and to combat terrorism.

Focusing more on security, the Foreign Secretary spoke on similar lines of the British Prime Minister Theresa May, who told GCC leaders during a joint summit, held here few days ago, that the UK is committed to the security of the Arabian Gulf region, commenting that “Gulf security is our security”.

“Any crisis in the Gulf is a crisis for us. Your security is ours. We are now renewing military ties with old friends,” Johnson said, pointing out to the new military projects including the British Navy Base (HMS Juffair) here, the regional land training hub in Oman and other projects.

“Together we dramatically reduced the expansion of terrorism,” Johnson added.

Senior diplomats and military officials, experts and dignitaries attended the summit which will continue today and tomorrow at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, addressing multiple regional security matters and developments.