Speaking at the event were Chairman of King Faisal Centre for Islamic Research and Studies Prince Turki Al Faisal, His Majesty the King’s Advisor for Cultural and Scientific Affairs Dr Mohammed Jaber Al Ansari, GCC Secretary General Dr Abdulatif bin Rashid Al Zayani and General Commander of Dubai Police Dhahi Khalfan.
In the opening speech His Majesty the King’s advisor for Diplomatic Affairs and the centre’s chairman Dr Mohammed Abdulgaffar said that the centre keen on monitoring books and studies published on GCC security in the last few years all of which were categorized as being conducted by foreign researchers.
He said that the studies mainly focused on issues related to GCC security and the development of security understandings that disregarded the interests of the GCC. Dr Abdulghaffar said that focus was placed on the encouragement of research cooperation among GCC research and study centres during the past few years.
Such cooperation he indicated were both short and long term covering various fields and issues.
He also emphasized that with current regional developments security was no longer an internal issue and in order to tackle it a more comprehensive strategic approach was necessary. Dr Abdulghaffar said that a comprehensive unified strategy was necessary in order to achieve joint military cooperation to combat external threats.
In another speech Prince Turki spoke about the challenges of regional security threats of the GCC. At the outset of his speech he praised the efforts exerted by Bahrain’s leadership and hailed His Majesty the King’s initiative related to the setting up of the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry (BICI).
Meanwhile, Prince Turki highlighted the fact that the regional security threat was one of the most pressing issues that the GCC member states must tackle.
With regard to Iraq he said that it was core of the regional balance in the region and its exclusion during the war had caused this imbalance.
Meanwhile, Dr Al Ansari presented a paper entitled “A look towards the Future” that focused on the continual developments in the region with an emphasis on national and regional security.
He said that this issue needed to be tackled and its approach reevaluated. Other speakers also presented papers that highlighted issues related to regional and international developments with the focus on security issues