Bahrain successfully hosted regional dialogue forums

Manama, Oct. 31 (BNA): Participants in IISS Manama Dialogue said the Kingdom of Bahrain has successfully hosted this key regional security summit (IISS Manama Dialogue) over more than a decade which reflects the country's effective contribution in the regional and international arenas to find optimum solutions for crises beleaguering the Middle East region. The participants told Bahrain News Agency (BNA) that the Syrian dossier and greedy Iranian ambitions in the region as well as extremism were the main topics prevalent during the dialogue sessions in view of their negative impact not only in the regions' countries but their catastrophic dimension extended as far as the European continent and the whole world alluding to the influx of refugees and Daesh's terrorism. Chairman of Gulf Research Centre, Dr. Abdulaziz bin Saqr, said the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia firmly upholds its stance of rejection of any open dialogue with Bashar al-Assad who should relinquish power in favour of a joint transitional governing body according to Geneva timetable. He said Saudi Arabia considered Russia and Iran as occupiers of Syria. He affirmed that the international coalition have accomplished a great deal on the ground in order to degrade and defeat Daesh's terrorism. Former Iraqi Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Ghanim Al-Jumaili, said Manama Dialogue comes at a crucial time regarding numerous regional and international dossiers, and expressed his hope that the summit will clarify the picture of what is happening in the region and achieve a quality addition in terms of political and security solutions and direct communication with the officials in charge of these dossiers. He sees all dossiers, whether Syria or Iraq, are interconnected and that when any progress is made in any dossier this will reflect positively on the other dossiers. Former Norwegian naval officer, L. Heiss-Berg, said his first participation in Manama Dialogue carries much concern over Middle East issues, especially the Syrian crisis, asserting that the road to peace was thorny due to complexity of regional dossiers and hoping that international efforts would contribute to making positive progress in the foreseeable future. Berg said the ultimate solution for the Syrian crisis must be political and not militarily, pointing out that his country, Norway, began to suffer from the influx of tens of thousands of Syrians seeking secure shelter in Europe and fleeing Daesh's brutality. He said Norway like other European countries cannot accommodate such large number of refugees and there should be more concerted international efforts to find a political solution and relief assistance to refugees. He stressed the role of the Syrians themselves in attaining a lasting solution to the crisis with assistance from the international community. He added that Manama Dialogue will contribute a great deal in finding suitable political and security formulae to solve the crises in the region.