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It may be more prudent for Russia to engage the Gulf states as individual actors rather than as a cohesive bloc Since 1981—the year the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was established—the Arab world has frequently heard, and still hears, albeit less frequently today, slogans such as “Our Gulf is One.” Likewise, whenever the Gulf region faces a crisis, prominent media headlines routinely ask: “What are Gulf ...
... military operation is showcased by the first visit of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to Muscat since 2016 and a visit of the Sultanate’s Foreign Minister to Moscow in July 2023, which took place as part of the Russia–Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) negotiations. In September 2023, a Russian delegation headed by then-Secretary of the Russian Security Council Nikolai Patrushev arrived in Muscat and included representatives from security agencies, Rosatom and the Bank of Russia. Then in December ...
... Saudi Arabia and UAE, where the sides confirmed their commitment to continue cooperation on managing the global oil prices as well as to further promote bilateral trade and investment. Both KSA and UAE were invited to join BRICS, and the 7th Russia-GCC Ministerial Meeting for Strategic Dialogue held in Riyadh in September of 2024 confirmed that the Russian and the GCC approaches to the Israeli-Palestinian escalation have a lot in common. Both KSA and UAE participated in the XVI BRICS Summit that ...
Beijing is rather reluctant to get deeply involved in intra-regional politics in the Middle East, as this could provoke new tensions with the U.S. The current escalation in the Middle East has been described by many as a test of influence for China. For example, the media repeatedly suggested that the United States asked China to put pressure on Iran during the latest rounds of escalation, especially after the Israeli strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus. Yet, if compared to Qatari, Egyptian...
... thus not imposing any obligatory decisions but rather strengthening already existing institutionalization premises and securing its role in the international arena. Thus, a parallel comparison could be drawn with the ASEAN or Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), rather than the EU due to the deep integration processes inferring the principle of non-interference strongly present in the latter. The ASEAN Charter, for instance, directly states “respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial ...
... means to overcome Syria’s isolation in the Arab world, which could eventually help restore its membership in the Arab League and be reintegrated into the Arab family. The UAE also serves as an intermediary for Damascus’s communication with other GCC states (e.g. Saudi Arabia, Qatar) and the West. It is also worth noting that the Syrian government views the UAE as a potential counterbalance to excessive Iranian influence in Syria. Cooperation with the Emirates is also beneficial for economic reasons,...
... the pivot to the Middle East will not last long, and one should not expect quick pay-offs. The itinerary from Tel Aviv to Jeddah, where, alongside with the bilateral U.S.-Saudi negotiations, the U.S. president met with a number of Arab leaders in the GCC+3 format (Egypt, Iraq, Jordan) is quite telling. This list indicates the states the Biden administration intends to bet on as well as the range of oft-interrelated problems, the approaches to which the administration considers necessary to clarify ...
... all the main regions of the Global South via aggregating the regional integration platforms in Eurasia, Africa and Latin America. Going forward this format may be further expanded to include other regional integration blocks from Eurasia, such as the GCC, EAEU and others. During the meeting of foreign ministers of BRICS countries China also announced plans to open up the possibility of developing countries joining the core BRICS grouping. This approach differed to some degree from the line pursued ...
The GCC countries expect Moscow to influence Iran, limiting the dangers it poses “The US’ withdrawal from the Middle East has strengthened GCC countries’ desire to create intraregional coalitions and to look for an external security provider. Russia ...
... integration. In May 2022 the High Representative and the European Commission adopted a Joint Communication on a ‘Strategic Partnership with the Gulf’ with the aim to deepen the European Union (EU)’s cooperation with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and its Member countries. In developing its cooperation with the GCC countries the EU is seeking to employ its new “Global gateway” framework along with the relevant development institutions – as stated by the European Commission: “the EU ...
