Gulf and Red Sea Regions

The Ethiopian parliament voted on Tuesday (15 February) to lift the country's state of emergency citing improvements in the security situation. Ethiopia declared a state of emergency last November when the Tigrayan fighter vowed to reach the capital, Addis Ababa.

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced the transfer of 4 percent of the Saudi oil giant Aramco’s, shares to the Public Investment Fund, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. The transferred share are valued up to $80 billion. The move is another step by the Kingdom to diversify the economy and move it away from dependency on oil. 

The visit of Recip Tayip Erdogan to Abu Dhabi marks the end of a period of rivalry and opens the prospects of serious co-operation that can be a game-changer in settings across the region.

The talks on the Iran nuclear file in Vienna have stopped for a short break. A statement by the European External Action Service on Friday (28 January) said that "the 8th round of negotiations in Vienna in the framework of the JCPOA will take a break. Participants will go back to capitals for consultations with their respective governments. The talks will reconvene next week." Media reports however suggest their is a split in the US delegation on the next steps. 

Russia this week rolled out the red carpet for Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi. His visit included a rare invitation to address the State Duma, as well as a long meeting with president Putin. Raisi gave Putin the draft of "a document on strategic cooperation between our two countries" which he said can determine or at least clarify the co-operation between the two countries for the next two decades.