MANAMA: His Majesty King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein of Jordan will give the keynote speech at the opening of this year’s IISS Manama Dialogue 2018 on Friday (26 October), returning to the Middle East’s leading foreign-policy, defence and security summit following a previous keynote speech in 2010.
King Abdullah’s speech will focus on the ongoing and central importance of the Palestinian–Israeli Peace Process for regional stability and security. He will highlight the need for regional powers to take a holistic approach to tackling both radicalism and terrorism.
His Majesty’s speech will mark the opening of the 14th IISS Manama Dialogue, hosted by the Kingdom of Bahrain, which will see over 50 government ministers and senior officials representing 25 nations from across the Middle East, Africa, Europe and North America gather to discuss the Middle East’s most pressing security challenges over three days (26–28 October).
“The Israel–Palestine conflict and the need for peace was a topic that His Majesty forcefully addressed in his speech at the IISS Manama Dialogue in 2010, challenging the world’s leaders that “There is no excuse for politics-as-usual,” Sir Tom Beckett, IISS Middle East Director, said.
“We are looking forward immensely to His Majesty’s return to the IISS Manama Dialogue and to hearing what he has to say about the challenges for security in the region today. Those challenges are many. From the local and international efforts to solve conflicts, such as Syria and Yemen, to the management of competition in the Gulf and rivalry in the Horn of Africa, from cybersecurity and non-proliferation to defence modernisation and diplomacy, the discussion at the Dialogue will cover the issues that are on the minds of regional policymakers and on the front page of every newspaper.”