Doha: The former secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) told a forum yesterday that peace and stability in the Gulf countries was crucial for the stability of societies across the globe because of their dependence on oil.
“Oil is the welfare of mankind,” Dr Abdullah Bishara, a senior Kuwaiti diplomat and President of the Diplomatic Centre of Strategic Studies, said.
He was speaking at the two-day EU-GCC Regional Security Cooperation conference held at Qatar University. The event was organised by QU’s Gulf Studies Program and the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) in collaboration with Sharaka, a project that aims to enhance EU-GCC relations.
The conference highlighted key regional issues, while discussing the rising powers and the challenges faced by regional governments.
Dr Bishara said that the GCC states needed to enhance cooperation, keeping in view the hostility in many countries in the region.
He also pointed out the differences in the Gulf and European societies, and said that the social changes EU wanted GCC states to adopt were simply not possible.
Michael Gahler, member of the European Parliament, on the other hand, said that the GCC states are in fact, not cohesive in their policies and it was very easy to put one country versus another.
Participants said that the GCC states, with the exception of Qatar, were ‘panicking’ about the possible abandonment by the United States (US) in view of its closer ties with Iran.
They, however, said that there was ‘too much bad blood’ between the US and Iran for possible reconciliation anytime soon.
“The panic that is coming out of Riyadh, Kuwait city and Abu Dhabi only matches the panic of Netanyahu, it reaches that level of panic,” a speaker at the forum said.
The European Union, in scholarship at least, showed that it did not have the backbone to pursue a foreign policy that was decidedly different from the US when it comes to Iran.
The US was seen as a traditional ‘balancer’ in the region as the GCC countries were not self-sufficient in their external defense with respect to their main competitor, Iran.
“The GCC states will not talk to Iran seriously about a new multilateral deal without the American being at the table, while Iran considers withdrawal of the foreign forces essential for any such deal.”
With the growing influence of Iran, participants also identified Turkey as a key role-player in the region.
The Peninsula
