Deputy Foreign Minister Lapo Pistelli represented Italy at the 9th edition of the Manama Dialogue, a major forum for discussion for policy-makers, business persons, military leaders and members of regional and global think-tanks on issues concerning the Persian Gulf.
“These forums for encounter on themes that touch directly on the security of us all make it clear that mutual understanding and dialogue are essential tools if we mean to avoid the temptation to turn to options different from those of diplomacy”.
Within the context of the Manama Dialogue sessions, whose participants also this year included eminent personalities such as American Defence Secretary Hagel, British Foreign Secretary Hague and representatives of more than 30 of the main countries concerned with regional stability, Deputy Minister Pistelli was invited to speak on a high-level panel on European prospects within the implications of the Syrian conflict. “It is important to seize the window of opportunity offered by the Geneva Conference, which Minister Bonino has long maintained, and to understand the need to be inclusive in encounters with all the actors involved for various reasons in the Syrian conflict if the idea is really to defuse those forces that wish, on the other hand, to fuel it. And I believe that Italy is fully entitled to participate in diplomatic as well as humanitarian efforts to end a massacre that has reached alarming proportions”.
Pistelli’s Manama Dialogue agenda was packed with bilateral meetings with the foreign ministers of Iraq, Yemen, Arab Emirates, Oman and the Crown Prince of Bahrain, including participation in an official event on board the ship “Cavour”. The Cavour Group’s stay in Bahrain, with its full involvement in the conference sessions, was planned with the intention of using this excellent occasion to promote major industry, a winning symbol of Italy, during the most influential symposium on Middle East regional security.
