Connectivity

Trade of goods between Saudi Arabia and Qatar is resuming today at various border crossings, according to the Qatari General Authority of Customs. In addition, Qatar Airways Cargo will recommence operating services to and from Egypt, UAE and Saudi Arabia from 21 February. 

After years of negotiations, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan have reached a preliminary agreement on the joint exploration of a disputed section of an undersea hydrocarbons field in the Caspian Sea believed to hold extensive energy reserves. President Ilham Aliyev of Azerbaijan and Turkmen president Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov, attended online the signing by their foreign ministers of a memorandum on the mutual intention to jointly explore and develop the Dostlug (Friendship) undersea field.

Disillusioned by the attitude of both Russia and the West during the recent Karabakh War, Armenia should look to making China a key partner for economic, political, and defence cooperation, argues Benyamin Poghosyan in this op-ed

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev are expected to meet in Moscow next week together with the Russian President Vladimir Putin. This will be the first meeting between the two leaders since the recent war they fought with each other, and their 10 November agreement which brought it to an end.

Kuwait has been mediating between the two sides for several months. The re-opening of the border comes just hours before the launch of the 41st GCC Summit in Saudi Arabia.

The Brexit monster is far from scary, merely a man dressed up in blue furry headwear, with the same fur on his arms and shoes, who is rolled out from time to time to remind people about the serious side of Brexit.