The Gulf: Future Security and British Policy

It was only as a result of the tragic events of 1990-1991 that similar, cohesive policies of cooperation came to be pursued by other states. However, even then, not all offered the same level of consistency and support. Bahrain considers itself to be the nucleus of strategic defence from as far back as 1820, when it signed the first treaty with the British government, right through until the end of the 1970s. Bahrain has always been a keystone of western involvement in the region – nowhere more particularly so than in the fields of trade and commerce.