Talks between Bahrain's opposition and pro-government groups began on Saturday, aimed at healing the deep rifts caused by protests earlier this year.

The main opposition group Al Wefaq Islamic Society too joined the National Dialogue which opened under the slogan 'Our Bahrain. Our Unity' at the Isa Cultural Centre.

In his opening address, Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Al Dhahrani, speaker of the Parliament and the chairman of National Dialogue, reiterated that all stages of the talks will be transparent and objective.

Addressing the gathering, Al Dhahrani said, 'The people of Bahrain are facing a historic opportunity to overcome this critical stage through a national dialogue without any preconditions. Its ceiling is the consensus among all components of society and its goal is bringing together the different opinions to share views and common denominators that contribute towards further development in all fields.'

'We start without conditions or limits, our only condition is accepting one another,' said  al-Dhahrani, chairman of the dialogue and also a speaker of parliament.

Dhahrani told participants that any agreed proposals would be taken to the king, who 'will pass it on to legal organisations for the necessary implementation.'

Discussions on Saturday were mostly ceremonial, with a recital from the Koran, a speech and presentations.

Later the basic principles of a dialogue, organizational aspects along with an explanation of the mechanism of  interlocutors were presented by Khalid Ajaji Musharraf.

The topics were reviewed by Isa Abdulrahman the official spokesman for the National Dialogue. The forum has received hundreds of proposals for discussion.

Isa Abdulrahman explained that the issues raised in the dialogue were based on four main areas - political, economic, social, and rights - in addition to a session devoted to expats in the Kingdom.

He pointed out that each area consists of sub-themes containing multiple topics that contained all the views put forward by the participants in the dialogue all of which will be discussed by the working groups.

He clarified that the political theme comprise sub topics, which include political societies and powers of the Shura and Representatives councils and a government that represents the will of the people and the electoral system, while the economic theme will include sub topics such as boosting economic competitiveness and the level of government services such as health, housing, education and pension systems, governance in public finance management and re-directing of subsidies and contribution to community development.

Isa Abdulrahman revealed that the social theme will include sub topics that include youth, civil society institutions, security and civil peace, while sub topics of the legal theme will address the rights of women, children and people with special needs.

The judiciary system, freedom of expression and freedom of assembly and human rights will also be among the topics, he added.

Leading up to the start of the dialogue, the government had offered some concessions, including the launch of an investigative panel led by law professor Cherif Bassiouni, an Egyptian-American war crimes expert who is also heading UN inquiry into events in Libya.

Most, though not all, Saudi troops are being withdrawn and there are fewer armoured vehicles and tanks on the streets of Manama, although checkpoints still dot the streets.

His Majesty King Hamad, in a speech televised on the eve of the talks, said: 'It will be a true dialogue in every respect and no section of Bahrain's wide and diverse society will be ignored.'-Reuters and TradeArabia News Service