Economics in the Middle East will be the focus for an upcoming regional summit in Bahrain, a report said.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) Geo-Economic Forum will be held in November and is envisaged as an annual event to run in parallel with the institutes' existing yearly security summit, the Manama Dialogue, reported the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

To accommodate this new forum, the IISS has had to adjust its schedule and change the dates of the Manama Dialogue, which is normally held in December.

The existing three-day security summit, which is in its 11th year, will now take place from October 30 until November 1.

'The Manama Dialogue security summit was rescheduled to make it more suitable for participating Gulf governments,' an IISS spokesman told the GDN.

'Many formalities are increasingly crowding the calendar during the same period such as national days and end-of-year official commitments.

'This adjustment also makes space for the Geo-Economic Forum in the IISS calendar of events.'

The Geo-Economic Forum will be the 'economic equivalent' of the Manama Dialogue, the spokesman said.

It will 'probably' be held towards the end of November, although the dates are yet to be confirmed.

Earlier this month, the IISS organised a forum in the Indian capital New Delhi to discuss the changing dynamics of economic and diplomatic links between the Gulf and Asia.

IISS Geo-Economics and Strategy director Dr Sanjaya Baru told the GDN that this 'unique initiative', sponsored by Bahrain's Economic Development Board (EDB), brought together business leaders, government officials and opinion makers from across the region.

'Participants recognised the positive weight of history and the even more compelling attraction of growing people-to-people and business-to-business relations to the increasingly important bilateral relationship,' he said.

The forum was attended by EDB chief executive Khalid Al Rumaihi, IISS Middle East executive director Sir John Jenkins and featured EDB chief economist Jarmo Kotilaine and Jawaharlal Nehru University professor P R Kumaraswamy, Indian Ambassador Dr Mohan Kumar, Labour Market Regulatory Authority chief executive Ausamah Al Absi, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry secretary general Dr Didar Singh and Crown Prince's court political and economic adviser Shaikh Mohammed bin Isa Al Khalifa.

It included panel discussions on demographic and labour migration trends in the Gulf. – TradeArabia News Service