Context: In a diplomatic initiative to address the lingering conflicts and mistrust in the Gulf region, Iran has proposed a new platform for regional peace building.

About the proposed Persian Gulf Regional Dialogue Forum:

• The announcement of Persian Gulf Regional Dialogue Forum is significant as it comes in the wake of continued erosion of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which in the recent years has been divided between the Iranian and the Saudi spheres.
• The new forum could focus on promotion of peace and prosperity in the region. Such a forum should offer membership to countries based on a set of general principles to address real issues that affect people of the region and the world.
• Admission to such a forum should be based on accepting generally-recognised principles and shared objectives, notably respect for sovereignty, territorial integrity and the political independence of all states. The forum should render international boundaries inviolable and use of force impermissible.
• Agenda of the forum: It could connect people of various member countries cutting across all traditional boundaries.
• Effectiveness: Such a forum shall be helpful in dealing with threats like terrorism and extremism that has left the countries of the region in a state of continuous state of insecurity.
• The member countries will have to follow a set of confidence building measures. These measures could include freedom of navigation, assurance of free flow of energy and other resources and protection of the fragile marine ecology of the Gulf.