Information Minister highlights national dialogue efforts

Manama: April 9 – (BNA): The Minister of State for Information Affairs cum Government’s Official Spokesperson, Sameera Ebrahim bin Rajab, emphasized that there is no dialogue with terrorists who adopt violence and bomb explosions as dialogue tools. The Minister stressed that the dialogue invited by His Majesty the King is now in the phase of bilateral meetings aimed to reach a commonly-acceded agenda. She said that national consensus is an essential condition for a successful dialogue. The Minister told "Al-Sharq Al-Awsat" newspaper today that the dialogue has not been stopped recently and that bilateral meetings continue to be held between the Royal Court and debating parties in order to draft an agreed agenda. She said that dialogue is still in the phase of bilateral meetings aimed to reach a agreed agenda, stressing that the dialogue has been initiated by His Majesty the King and we’re responding to it seriously. She said that there is no retreating from the dialogue because we believe in the essential urgency of dialogue to reach the solution. However, common consensus is the key and one of the conditions of dialogue. The Minister ruled out any negative impact from recent security incidents on dialogue. She added that no incident can adversely impact on the dialogue and we have serious intent on the dialogue because we basically are not in dialogue with perpetrators and committers of violence and terrorist blasts whom we tackle according to the law. She said that the dialogue we’re talking about now is serious dialogue between political parties. Regarding a timetable for the dialogue and the returning of Bahraini debating parties to the new dialogue table, the Minister said that the timetable will be set as soon as the agenda has been reached and acceded by all the political parties for participation in the dialogue. (IY)