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- Briefing: intensive diplomatic efforts around the Armenia-Azerbaijan peace process
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Region
Gulf and Red Sea Regions
Stories under this heading cover the Gulf and the Red Sea regions, including the Arabian Peninsula, Iran and the countries bordering the Red Sea.
Iran reopens embassy in Saudi Arabia, consulate opening Wednesday
patrickn97
Tue, 06/06/2023 - 13:16
Iran has reopened its embassy in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on Tuesday (6 June), the Saudi outlet Al Arabiya reported on Tuesday.
The agreement to reopen embassies in each other's respective capitals was struck on 10 March in Beijing, re-establishing diplomatic ties that had been broken for years. You can read more about the 10 March agreement here.
“We consider today an important day in the relations of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Alireza Bigdeli told a flag-raising ceremony, adding that “the cooperation between the countries is entering a new era.”
At a meeting with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in Cape Town last Friday (2 June), Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian expressed satisfaction with the "good progress made in bilateral ties". The two foreign ministers were meeting in South Africa on the sidelines of the “Friends of BRICS” summit.
The next BRICS summit between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will take place in Johannesburg in August. Meanwhile, the opening of the Iranian consulate in Jeddah is expected to take place on Wednesday (7 June).
patrickn97
Wed, 06/07/2023 - 09:51
UAE withdraws from joint naval patrols with the US
An announcement on Wednesday (31 May) that the UAE had withdrawn its participation from the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) coalition is supposed to have caught the US by surprise.
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Iran reopens embassy in Saudi Arabia, consulate opening Wednesday
Iran has reopened its embassy in the Saudi capital of Riyadh on Tuesday (6 June), the Saudi outlet Al Arabiya reported on Tuesday.
The agreement to reopen embassies in each other's respective capitals was struck on 10 March in Beijing, re-establishing diplomatic ties that had been broken for years. You can read more about the 10 March agreement here.
“We consider today an important day in the relations of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Alireza Bigdeli told a flag-raising ceremony, adding that “the cooperation between the countries is entering a new era.”
At a meeting with his Saudi counterpart Prince Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud in Cape Town last Friday (2 June), Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian expressed satisfaction with the "good progress made in bilateral ties". The two foreign ministers were meeting in South Africa on the sidelines of the “Friends of BRICS” summit.
The next BRICS summit between Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will take place in Johannesburg in August. Meanwhile, the opening of the Iranian consulate in Jeddah is expected to take place on Wednesday (7 June).
patrickn97
Wed, 06/07/2023 - 09:51
UAE withdraws from joint naval patrols with the US
patrickn97
Tue, 06/06/2023 - 13:16
An announcement on Wednesday (31 May) that the UAE had withdrawn its participation from the Combined Maritime Forces (CMF) coalition is supposed to have caught the US by surprise.
Oil prices rise as OPEC+ announces output cuts after Vienna meeting
The group of oil producing countries, OPEC+, has pledged oil output cuts amid flagging global oil prices.
Following the announcement made on Sunday (4 June) after a meeting of OPEC+ in Vienna, Brent crude oil rose by as much as 2.4% before settling at around $77 a barrel in Asia trading on Monday.
In accordance with the agreement struck, Saudi Arabia announced that they would cut daily barrel production from 10 million barrels per day (bpd) to 9 million bpd in July, as well as extending their volunatary cut in oil production of 500,000 bpd until December 2024.
Russia's 2023 quota currently stands at around 10.5 million bpd, but in 2024 will reduce to approximately 9.3 million bpd, consisting of a reduction of 650,000 barrels per day as well as the voluntary cut of 500,000 bpd.
Brent crude oil rose by as much as 2.4% before settling at around $77 a barrel. Global oil prices spiked following Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Since then, however, prices have fallen to pre-February 2022 levels. In an attempt to shore up global oil markets, OPEC+ have announced a couple of rounds of cuts in oil production.
In October 2022, OPEC+ agreed to cut production by two million bpd, about 2% of global demand.
patrickn97
Mon, 06/05/2023 - 08:49
Italian government lifts restrictions on Saudi weapons exports
patrickn97
Thu, 06/01/2023 - 10:08
The Italian government has lifted a 2019 embargo on exporting military weapons to Saudi Arabia.
The decision, taken on Wednesday (31 May) was announced in a communique at the end of a Council of Ministers meeting presided over by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, and was made "in accordance with the foreign and defense policy of Italy".
Restrictions on the sale of weapons to Saudi Arabia were put in place in 2019 to prevent Italian-made weaponry being used in the conflict in Yemen.
Georgia and Qatar to sign agreement on innovation and technology cooperation after leaders meet in Doha
Georgia and Qatar are to sign an agreement on innovation and technology cooperation, the Georgian Economy Minister Levan Davitashvili announced on Tuesday (23 May).
The announcement came after the Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani met in Doha on the sidelines of the Qatar Economic Forum that is running from 23-25 May.
Davitashvili said that the Georgian delegation had meetings with a number of sectoral ministries in which they discussed opportunities for cooperation between Georgia and Qatar. Transport, logistics, and Georgia's key role in the Middle Corridor facilitating east-west trade were emphasised in the meetings, according to Davitashvili, who said that there is an increased interest in the country from "many states of the world, including Qatari investors", amid geopolitical challenges.
The meetings also touched on trade and economic issues, as well as the the agreements on Mutual Support and Protection of Investments and on Economic, Trade and Technical Cooperation, signed last year between Georgia and Qatar.
patrickn97
Wed, 05/24/2023 - 09:20
Editorial: Saudi Arabia injects new energy into a moribund Arab League
Following last week's Arab League summit in Jeddah, "it is expected that Saudi Arabia will continue to use its year-long chairmanship of the Arab League to reshape the institution, and more broadly to reconfigure pan Arab-affairs, of course with Saudi Arabia at the helm," writes commonspace.eu in this editorial. "For it is this new ambition of the Kingdom to become a leading regional and global player that has defined the summit, and will define its chairmanship of the Arab League over the next year." The summit formally healed some of the divisions of the last decade. Syria’s President Bashar al Assad attended, marking the full return of Syria into the Arab fold. There was a lot of talk of a new era of peace in the Middle East, and even Iran was now perceived as more of a partner rather than an enemy. Yet the summit gathered whilst a few miles away, across the waters of the Red Sea from Jeddah, a bloody civil war raged on in Sudan.
patrickn97
Tue, 05/23/2023 - 12:51
Arab League welcomes back Syrian President Assad at 32nd summit in Jeddah
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is attending his first Arab League summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Friday (19 May) since his country was suspended from the group over the government's violent crackdown of pro-democracy protests in 2011 that led to the outbreak of the Syrian Civil War.
In the latest of a number of regional rapprochements, Syria was formally readmitted to the Arab League on 7 May after member states' foreign ministers voted to "resume the participation of the delegations of the government of the Syrian Arab Republic in the meetings of the Council of the League of Arab States", according to a statement.
The 32nd Arab League summit in the Saudi port city of Jeddah comes amid a renewed sense of purpose and unity across the Arab world. In an interview with Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, the President of Djibouti Ismail Omar Guelleh said that he hoped the summit in Saudi Arabia "will lead to recommendations and decisions that contribute to resolving critical situations and difficult conditions faced by the Arab world, while preserving unity and solidarity among Arab brothers."
patrickn97
Fri, 05/19/2023 - 08:35
Editorial: Gulf countries tease the world powers, it is their moment and they are clearly enjoying it
patrickn97
Tue, 05/09/2023 - 13:46
This editorial first appeared in the 9 May 2023 issue of our newsletter Arabia Concise. If you would like to subscribe to Arabia Concise, or any other of our newsletters, please click here.
Uzbekistan and Qatar expand bilateral relations, embassy opened in Tashkent
patrickn97
Mon, 05/08/2023 - 07:55
Uzbekistan and Qatar have expanded their bilateral relations after a meeting of their foreign ministers in the Uzbek capital Tashkent on Sunday (7 May).
Bakhtiyor Saidov and Soltan bin Saad Al-Muraikhi "discussed dynamic Uzbekistan – Qatar relations, the implementation of joint programs, prospects for intensifying political dialogue, trade and investment, cultural, and people-to-people ties", according to a statement released by the Uzbek Foreign Ministry.