Transatlantic Security Symposium - 5. ed.

The fifth edition of the Transatlantic Security Symposium was held on November 16, 2012 at Italy’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome. The conference focused on the “Potential and Challenges of EU-US Relations with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)”. In light of the growing political and economic influence of the Arab Gulf States across the Middle East and North Africa and the relative decline of the West’s capacity to influence events in the region, this year’s Symposium explored three specific issues – the Arab Spring, increasing tensions with Iran and West-GCC security cooperation – as a means to highlight potential areas of convergence and disagreement between the transatlantic partners and the GCC. The Symposium called for a re-assessment of what is a stake for the transatlantic partners in their relationships with the GCC, and how the transatlantic partners can develop such relationships in a manner that reflects their strategic interests as well as their underlining values. The conference hosted a keynote speech by a NATO official addressing the Alliance’s relations with the GCC. High-level guests from the US, Europe, the Middle East and the Gulf region addressed the conference and debated on the three issues from different perspectives. Two academic research papers were presented on each of these issues and will serve as a basis to favor debate between the invited guests. A revised version of the papers, updated in light of the seminar’s proceedings, has been published together with a report of the conference in an ad hoc volume prepared by IAI.