Manama hosts first meeting of Negev Summit Steering Committee

The first meeting of the Negev Summit Steering Committee got underway in Bahrain’s capital, Manama. Senior officials from the foreign ministries of Bahrain, the UAE, Egypt, Morocco, and the US attended the meeting. It aimed at formalizing commitments made at the March Negev Summit and turning the meeting of the six working groups formed in March into an ongoing forum. Manama meeting also discussed the possibility of turning the six foreign ministers’ gathering into an annual event to be held in one of the countries each time. The Negev Summit formed six working groups to address topics of food, water, tourism, and agriculture and each of the six countries will head a working group, which will meet two or three times a year. The Israeli Foreign Ministry said Jordan, which did not participate in the Negev Summit, were not invited to Manama, but will be asked to attend next year’s summit. Manama’s meeting came ahead of US President Joe Biden’s next month visit to the region.