Dynamics on the middle east and its important to recognize that everything here is on the record. Before we begin id like to highlight the Atlantic Councils collaboration with ifpi, which is the Italian Institute for International Political studies. This is the second year that our two organizations have partners produced an outstanding work on the changing landscape in the middle east. Today we are pleased to release our new collected volume, the mino region, and its now available for download online. A special thanks goes out to the president of ifpi, ambassador monsolo for his continuous collaboration in our joint ventures and indebted to the Italian Foreign ministry, in particular to the italian ambassador for his unwavering drive to see our two institutions partnering for not only the two countries they represent, but for the entire community. Ambassador monsolo couldnt be here at the last minute, but asked me to read this note. Its great regret i address you all in writing when i sincerely wanted to be with you. A last minute event prevented me from attending the presentation of our joint report on the middle east. This work bears special importance and is a testament to the excellent collaboration between our two organizations. Id like to express by full appreciation for what the ifpi and the council did together. I could not be with you today, i wish you all a fruitful day of enriching dialog. Lastly id like to thank my team here at the Atlantic City council, especially kareem and emily. Emily, where are you . Okay. With their excellent work putting this altogether, putting together the conference and collected volume, theyve gone above and beyond a great work of scholarship and truly an exciting event today. Before i turn the microphone over to the ambassador, let me say a few words about him. His excellency served as ambassador from italy to the United States, and prior to this high ranking positions within the Italian Government and abroad. In particular he specialized in european and Transatlantic Affairs during his years as the italian representative to the European Union and served in budapest, and a chief advisor to the council of minister and diplomatic advisor to the district and the republic and focused on security issues. He has specific expertise in global issues and he was at the g8 and 20 summits. He received a degree in 1985 and entered the Foreign Service in 1986 and promoted to the rank of ambassador in 2014. So with no further ado, let me welcome the ambassador to open our discussion today. [applaus [applause] thank you. Thank you, william. Thank you for your kind introduction. Its a pleasure for me to be back here at such a prestigious institution. I can see from the crowd attending this event, again, how it is important to promote our cooperation and can see that in the topic of today receives such great welcome. As you know, italy and the United States are joined by a longstanding shared beliefs and something i will expand on later and most importantly, we are joined by shared vision, something which is reflected in collaboration between the Atlantic Council and the political states, ifbi. And im very pleased its the second year of this productive collaboration. At the embassy, were glad to be the link between that and for both with organizing todays events dedicated to the. Last year we focused on the crisis in the region. And now in 2019 we move on. In our common suggestions well focus on the new vision for the middle east. The subject, which we can safely define as a moving target, also in light of the increasing power competition in the region. Assistant secretary who will be here today im sure will have the best opportunity for a broad discussion on the latest developments. I want to focus my remarks on the general challenges as well as the opportunities. Because notwithstanding the remarkable potential of the region, a quick overview of the state of region shows the story of a growing violence, such as libya, and crisis in syria and yemen, a renewed risk of terrorism, not to mention the shadow gulf tensions cast over the entire region. In the past the focus of our discussion would have been state fragility. And today we notice the worrisome rise of tensions and increasingly to both agendas among different players. In addition we also note appearance or rather, reappearance of an impending power competition. The emergence of new actors in the region, particularly china, alongside traditional ones such as russia, presents a new challenge, which is quite rightly at our discussion today. Chinas influence in the region, one could only harken back to what the foreign minister said back in 2014 and i quote, chinas political role in the middle east will only grow. There is no way back, end of quote. What we see now is a new strategic competition with china and russia boosting their engagement in the middle east in recent years in all areas. Trade and investment, energy, military cooperation, and of course, diplomacy. This new multilayered challenge in turn impacts some extraordinary opportunities that have recently surfaced, the natural gas and Energy Revolution in the east mediterranean. Discoveries of many natural gas fields across the region are shaping a new reality. Used wisely, this could be invaluable in unleashing Untapped Potential and bringing together Key Countries like egypt, lebanon, cypress, turkey, of course, israel. However, its also fraught with danger as we can see by the looming tensions. Remember, what happens in the mediterranean and the mino region does not stay there and as ripple or flat effects worldwide, affecting stability and prosperity across three continents and no one knows this better. Against this backdrop, todays discussion is most timely and throws in relief, we must find a way to address this new scenario. We cannot stay idle, rather, we must press on and seek a new Strategic Vision for the middle east, able to respond to increasingly complex challenges. Italy has a great role to play on this. Bottom line upfront. We do not have a National Agenda for the region that could be seen as come fronttational or in competition with others. Our goal is clear, peaceful, stable and flourishing middle east, safe from the threat of terrorists, and threat from the threat of becoming the Battle Ground from proxy leaders. This comes from our history. Theres nothing new there. The threat that my country spread across the mediterranean, having the possibility to entertain different people, being able to understand and listen. This is something that is part of our dna. We are a key provider in the region, security provider in the region, headed by Major General, and were the constitution and Security Forces. On libya, a topic, you can imagine at a central discussion during recently secretary pompeos trip to italy. I remembered many questions on supposed intraeurpean competition to excertificate influence over the country and the region and i also remember underlining that this narrative was based on a misconception of european dynamics. On the margins of the recent g8 there hosted a ministerial meeting and secretary gutierrez. And this is a broader meeting that theyll host later this fall, for the special representative to stop affiliations in the country and start the relaunch. Moving forward, italy has always been one of the main contributors to the coalition. And iraqi personnel which were ready to continue our support to the coalition as it looks to broader challenges both , namely in north africa and regions. And italys role the solemn flank is an integral with part of the nato to security challenges as security in europe is immediately linked to security and stability in the mediterranean. There cannot be a withdrawal. This is the key to our collective security. Italy is ready to provide its contribution in defining a strategic path forward toward a more stable and prosperous area. Through our strong human and culture bond with our mediterranean neighbors and our deep understanding of regional dynamics, we look forward to continuing the fruitful discussion with our american friends in the frame work of italy, u. S. Strategic on the mediterranean launched last year during the visit of our Prime Minister. Our request for a common vision for the area has been one of the main focuses of the meetings of secretary pompeo. Where he met with our leaders, starting with the Prime Minister, and our foreign minister. And in that respect with the visit here next week, we look forward to exploring at the highest levels ways for strengthening cooperation between italy and the u. S. This will mark the president s second official visit to the u. S. , a loud and clear testament to our strong relationship and strategic relations. And talking of dialogdialogs. Its my pleasure to mention the conference which turned five this year. This important event will be held in early december in rome. It has become a landmark event, an annual gathering that brings together heads of state, ministers, societies and members of the media. This years theme is and should not be a surprise beyond the agenda. And so, not enrealistic. As the region struggles with sectarian, as well as with regional and International Competition, we must continue to strive for unity of intent and to push a common agenda. In italy, one of the very first things we start in school is the critical importance, the luna as we call it. Lets Work Together to define a new Strategic Vision for the middle east to make sure that the area returns not too distant future to prosperity that so deserved throughout the centuries. Thank you very much and congratulations for the Atlantic Council for the excellent cooperation for very thoughtful paper and im sure the best way to pave our preparation towards dialog in rome. Thank you very much. [applaus [applause] well pause for a minute or two as our next guest is in the process of arriving. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] a lot of things are changing. You have some very, very wealthy nations. Extremely wealthy nations where we take care of their military and we take care of their military needs. Nobody can do it better than us, but we are really not being reimbursed for what were doing and were having very nice talks, very friendly talks for the most part without exception people are coming through and they say we have to help out, also. A lot of exciting things are happening with our military. We have a great team. Some of the best leaders in the world. I think theyre probably the best leaders in the world. We have the greatest men, the greatest women and the greatest equipment. Nobody makes it like we do. So i want to thank you all and we have the discussion and we are going to go over and have dinner at the white house and thank you all very much for being here. Appreciate it. Are you confident what theyre doing in syria is the best at this point. Weve been in syria for a long time and it was supposed to be a very short hit, hit on isis, but it didnt work out that way. They never left and theyve been there for many, many years. And we are we were down to very few soldiers in syria. We had 50 in the region that youre talking about, 50 soldiers. And theyve been already moved out, but well see what happens with respect to a lot of different things. Weve told turkey, i spoke with president erdogan of turkey and i said all of the exciting news that seems to happen every single day. Were here, and david shenker, a good old friend of mine will share with us his great and unmatched wisdom about the u. S. Policy in the region. Let me give you a little background on david. He was sworn in as assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs june 14th of this year. Prior to joining the department of state he was director of the program on arab politics at the Washington Institute for near east policy from 20002006. He served in the office of the secretary of defenses at lavant country director and theyre responsible of advising the secretary and other Senior Leadership on military and Political Affairs of syria, lebanon, jordan, israel and the palestinian territories. He was offered a medal for Exceptional Service in 2005. Before that period of joining government he was a Research Fellow at Washington Institute as well and a project coordinator for a long centrally funded i. D. Project in egypt and jordan. With no further delay, please, assistant secretary shenker, welcome you to the podium. [applaus [applause]. Good morning. So it says here im supposed to speak on an update on current u. S. Strategy toward the region, but i had seen that the title of this conference was Strategic Visions and power competition in the middle east. So im going to speak about china and russia today, the new threats to middle east security and stability. Thank you, will. Its a pleasure to be at the Atlantic Council today and thank you, ambassador, and our italian cohosts. Both the United States and italy share a deep interest in sustained engagement in the middle east. Italy remains one of our closest partners and an event like this demonstrates our shared commitment to the future of the region. Secretary pompeo returned from a productive visit to italy reento,ing our strong partnership. I spent time with my italian counterparts. And this campaign to defeat isis, the u. S. Has played a leading role in immobilizing the community to confront stress in the region. Most of this focuses on the iranian threat, but im going to be here today to talk about a challenge thats most subtle and possibly more worrying or just as worrying. Thats the autocratic regimes like russia and china in the region. And were keeping a watchful eye on actions to undermine this goal. Four vision for the region, its in sharp contrast to those offered by russia and china. The u. S. Has a long track record to bring prosperity to the middle east and north africa. We are committed to Economic Growth and provide jobs and prosperity in the United States and around the world and we value individual freedom and democracy. As secretary pompeo said, the United States is a force for good in the region. Most significantly, we seek to tackle the regions problems working together with our partners advancing their interests as we advance our own. For example, weve led and organized the Global Coalition to defeat isis and developed the process in the region. And were looking to mesa and the gulf and together with other likeminded nations, were the cornerstone of the International Maritime for the region in the gulf. All of these mechanism help build Regional Security. The Global Coalition to defeat isis is what we can accomplish with a common goal and local partners. 76 nations and in the Global Coalition are and should be proud the territory isis once held was liberated. Beyond the military campaign, a triumph the coalitions efforts has been diplomacy. Organizing a Worldwide Network to stop financing and ending the flow of foreign fighters and discrediting isis bankrupt ideology. Our contributions include significant humanitarian assistance. Since 2014 alone, for iraq alone almost 2. 5 billion dollars in humanitarian aid to confli confli conflict affected and displaced. And this is voluntarily, a voluntary return of nearly 4 million internally displaced people. Neither russia or china, nor china showed a willingness let alone capability for a collective effort for the glob global. And china provided less than 11 million to china since 2013 and russia provided nothing. Instead of helping, russia and china sought to exploit openings to increase their own influence at the expense of their partners. The United States remains the indispensible partner for the majority of the countries in the region and china and russia play both sides in a range of regional disputes and the United States has the intractable problems. Taking a Firm Position is not always the most popular to do. But Public Opinion sometimes reflects that, but its a hall mark of global leadership. Let me be clear, we have no desire to make any country choose between the u. S. And russia and china. Countries can have positive relations with u. S. , china and russia and we want to ensure that their activities in the middle east do not come at the expense of the regions prosperity, fiscal viability and longstanding relationship with the u. S. So fact of the matter is we have a fundamentally different approach from russia and china to the regions most pressing problems. Lets start with iran. Iran represents the dominant challenge facing the region today. When we see this, and the nuclear escalations and Ballistic Missiles program, iran is still in conflict in yemen and beyond. And groups like hezbollah. Earlier this month, iran has a brazen attack. This showed the fu