Derasat participates in regional security conference

Manama, Apr. 19 (BNA): The Bahrain Centre for Strategic, International and Energy Studies "Derasat" has participated in a conference in the Italian capital Rome . Director of the Centre's strategic studies programme, Dr. Ashraf Kishk, participated in the "Security and Defense in the Middle East" conference organised by the Euro-Gulf Information Centre in cooperation with the American Centre for Studies on April 16-20. The conference brought together a group of academicians from the United States and Russia as well as members of the European Parliament and the Italian Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Dr. Ashraf pointed out that the Gulf countries faced unprecedented challenges during the period from 2011 to 2017 including the threats of terrorism in general and cyberterrorism in particular, He underlined that the biggest threat is Iran's threats and support for radical groups. He also said the Gulf states, in order to face these challenges, have sought to cooperate with all international parties, including NATO which expressed willingness to cooperate with Arab Gulf States, this cooperation was further enhanced by the opening of the NATO-Kuwait ICI Regional Centre in January 2017 as well as NATO's announcement to join the international coalition against ‘Daesh’. He pointed out the importance of considering that the Coalition is still required to play a greater role, not only in facing challenges, but also to overcome obstacles impeding the development of partnership with the Arab Gulf States members of the Istanbul Initiative in order to address the Iranian threats to Arab Gulf states in general and the Kingdom of Bahrain in particular. He also pointed out that it is necessary to dissect the regional crises elements so they can be dealt with, especially since the Iranian interference are the main cause of these crises; emphasising the need for not placing all crisis in the same category because each crisis has its own specificities.