Key delegates in Manama Dialogue

The proceedings of IISS Manama Dialogue will commence with a televised plenary. Entitled ‘Extremism, Stability and Development: The Future of the Middle East,’ it will feature Dr Abdullatif Al Zayani, Secretary General, Cooperation Council of the Arab States of the Gulf; Riyadh Yaseen, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yemen; Dr Taïeb Baccouche, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Tunisia; and Helen Clark, Administrator, UN Development Programme.

Fadila Souissi of Sky News Arabia will moderate the discussion. On the inaugural day of the Manama Dialogue, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa will host the opening dinner at Ritz-Carlton hotel tonight.

The dignitaries participating in the conference include, Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Bahrain; Ibrahim Al Jaafari, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Iraq; Khaled Al Obeidi, Minister of Defence, Iraq; Dr Nabil Elaraby, Secretary General, League of Arab States; Antony Blinken, Deputy Secretary of State, US; Philip Hammond, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, UK; Dr Ursula von der Leyen, Federal Minister of Defence, Germany; Nohad Machnouk, Minister of the Interior and Municipalities, Lebanon; Salameh Hammad, Minister of the Interior, Jordan; Salahuddin Rabbani, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Afghanistan; Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, Special Adviser to the Secretary General for Yemen, UN; Shaikh Thamer Al Sabah, President, National Security Bureau, Kuwait; General Lloyd James Austin III, Commander, US Central Command; and Dr Abdullatif Al Zayani, Secretary General, Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf.