Diplomacy

After the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director admitted that the agency had “a major communication breakdown” with Iran, a meeting resulted in an interim agreement to store monitoring data. The Iranian nuclear talks are expected to resume but the determination of actors to reach a deal is not yet clear.

The Ministerial Council of the GCC countries held its 149th meeting yesterday (16 September) where it discussed progress in GCC relations since AlUla agreement was signed. The Iraqi and Yemeni foreign ministers were also present to meet separately with the Council to discuss economic recovery and relations with GCC.

Russia remains our largest neighbour and it remains an important global actor. Not from the economic point of view, the economics of Russia is more or less the same size as Italy. It is much bigger in surface, but economically speaking it is a medium-sized state. They have a lot of gas, and gas is becoming more and more expensive. This is good news for them and bad news for us. They have the atomic arm, they have an important army and they use it when they need it. In any case, Russia will not disappear. It will be there and this will not change overnight.

During the upcoming summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in Tajikistan, it will be announced that Iran is launching the procedure on joining the organisation. The Russian newspaper Kommersant wrote on 9 September that earlier, the process was hindered by international sanctions, and later, by the objections of one of the members.

Negotiations around the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) dispute between the Nile basin countries has been stalled since Ethiopia completed the second filling of the dam. Contrary to Egypt’s fears, the dam is yet to be fully constructed and filled. Meanwhile, Algeria is preparing to begin a round of mediation between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia. 

At a government meeting in Yerevan on Wednesday, 8 September, Armenian  Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan touched upon the issue of normalising relations with Turkey. He referred to comments made recently by Turkish president Recip Tayip Erdogan and said that his government was ready for discussions with the Turkish side.