A £15 billion British military base will be established in Bahrain under a "symbolic" deal to bolster security in the Gulf The Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond announced on Saturday that the UK has signed a deal with the Gulf Arab nation of Bahrain to bolster the UK's military presence in the region. The agreement calls for improved onshore facilities at Bahrain's Mina Salman port that will give the Royal Navy a base to plan, store equipment and house military personnel. Philip Hammond told a security summit that bolstering the Royal Navy's presence in the Gulf would allow the UK and its allies in the region to "tackle the threats we face together". "Your security is our security. Your prosperity is our prosperity. Your stability is our stability," said Mr Hammond at a security conference in the Bahraini capital, Manama. Although military chiefs are understood to have been working towards the move for around two years, the threat from Islamic State has heightened the focus on Britain's presence in the region. "So our strategic priority for the Gulf and for the wider region is to build partnerships. Partnerships for security; partnerships for prosperity; partnerships for stability." Bahrain already hosts the US Navy's 5th Fleet. The deal comes amid air strikes by a US-led coalition targeting the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria. Get the latest headlines http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ Subscribe to The Telegraph http://www.youtube.com/subscription_center?add_user=telegraphtv Like us on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/telegraph.co.uk Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/telegraph Follow us on Google+ https://plus.google.com/102891355072777008500/ Telegraph.co.uk and YouTube.com/TelegraphTV are websites of The Daily Telegraph, the UK's best-selling quality daily newspaper providing news and analysis on UK and world events, business, sport, lifestyle and culture.

• published: 06 Dec 2014
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