KRG PM Barzani attends regional security forum in Bahrain

ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani is attending a Middle East security forum in Bahrain where Iran’s regional activities is a main topic on the agenda.

Barzani tweeted Friday he is attending the forum to “speak to world leaders on security challenges in the Middle East and cooperation to promote peace and stability in the region.” His deputy chief of staff, Aziz Ahmad, said there are three regional challenges the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) delegation wants to discuss: terrorism, renewable energy, and food security.

Kurdistan has a lot of "untapped or improperly used wealth" that could bring growth and development to the Region, Barzani said in an address at the forum. "It is time to start thinking about the optimal use of those resources," he said, according to a statement from his office.

Put on by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), this year’s edition of the annual Manama Dialogue has brought together more than 300 delegates from over 40 countries, including ministers, national security advisors, and intelligence chiefs, IISS director-general John Chipman said in his opening remarks on Friday. 

“The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) and Iraq attending such a great conference, attended by great powers, shows that Kurdistan in particular and Iraq in general have a significant importance and are part of the security issues in the region,” Peshmerga Minister Shorsh Ismail told Rudaw’s Sangar Abdulrahman in Manama. 

Three security trends will be a focus of the forum, Chipman explained in his opening remarks. The first is “intervention fatigue” as many states grow tired of military intervention, he said, pointing to Afghanistan, Mali, and Yemen where foreign states are scaling back their activities, but warned terrorist activity could increase as a result. 

One country that is not suffering from intervention fatigue, he said, is Iran, “whose well-maintained international influence networks remain capable of affecting political outcomes in several countries in which they operate.”

“How deterrence and defence postures can shape strategic perceptions in Iran is a subject that will naturally be central to our reflections this weekend,” said Chipman.

In Iraq, parties affiliated with pro-Iran militias have rejected the results of last month’s parliamentary election in which they did poorly and their supporters have protested in Baghdad demanding the results be voided. The militias are blamed for an attack on the resident of Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi that security forces called an assassination attempt. 

Tensions between Iran and Western powers are high ahead of talks to revive the Iran nuclear deal that are scheduled to resume in Vienna on November 29 after a five-month hiatus. 

Speaking this week at the Middle East Peace and Security Forum in Duhok, Barzani said non-interference is a more important issue regionally than nuclear proliferation and the nuclear deal with Iran. “In order for the region to feel safer, and from the talks that we’ve had with many of the regional leaders, we need to have a better system and better relations on the basis of mutual respect and non-interference,” he said. 

The two other trends the Manama Dialogue will follow are a shift away from large security coalitions to “mini-lateral arrangements” and growing importance of the Indo-Pacific region, said Chipman. 

In Bahrain, Barzani on Friday met with UK National Security Advisor Stephen Lovegrove and said he hopes for “more cooperation between our nations.” He is also expected to meet with Bahraini authorities, Safeen Dizayee, head of the KRG’s department of foreign relations, told Rudaw. 

Updated at 11:57 pm

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