PM Barzani to attend IISS Manama Dialogue 2021

ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) – Kurdistan Region Prime Minister Masrour Barzani is set to attend the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Manama Dialogue 2021 in Bahrain, according to a statement from his office.

Barzani will head a Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) delegation consisting of Minister of Peshmerga Affairs Shorish Ismail and Minister of Finance and Economics Awat Sheikh Janab, as well as the head of the Department of Foreign Relations, Safeen Dizayee.

On the sidelines of the three-day security conference that runs from Friday until Sunday, the prime minister is scheduled to meet with a wide variety of top European, regional, and American officials.

“I'm heading to Bahrain to attend the @IISS_org Manama Dialogue and speak to world leaders on security challenges in the Middle East and cooperation to promote peace and stability in the region,” Barzani tweeted on his way to the Gulf state.

Having been held since 2004, the conference, according to its website, is “a unique forum for government ministers, as well as members of the expert, opinion-forming and business communities, to debate the Middle East’s most pressing security challenges.”

The theme of 2021 Dialogue is Multilateralism and the Middle East.

I'm heading to Bahrain to attend the @IISS_org Manama Dialogue and speak to world leaders on security challenges in the Middle East and cooperation to promote peace and stability in the region.

— Masrour Barzani (@masrour_barzani) November 19, 2021

Speaking to journalists on Wednesday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced that he would also be attending the annual forum.

Read More: US Sec Def: ‘We will defend ourselves and our partners’ against ‘threats from Iran or its proxies’

“It’s not lost on me that this trip comes at a time when Iran is stoking tensions and undermining stability in the region,” he said, adding that “no problem in the Middle East gets easier to solve with a nuclear armed Iran.”