We need a pan-arab development plan financed by rich Arab countries said Ibrahim Dabdoub, vice-president of the international bank of Qatar, during a conference between bankers and economists organized by the Manama Institute for Strategic Studies. The plan, blueprinted on the well-known plan which resurrected European economies following the second world war, entails the investment of 100 billion dollars in five year to support strictly monitored development-programmes, Dabdoub explained. The proposal is a massive relaunch of initiatives already embraced by Gulf Cooperation Council countries at the inception of the arab spring. Over and above national plans pushing for development in the most poverty-stricken areas of their countries, wealthy oil-producing states such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman have pledged 10 million in aid to the most unstable members of the group (Oman and Bahrain) and an additional 20 million to post-Morsi and Muslim Brotherhood Egypt. Isis, the threat American Secretary of State John Kerry and Defence Minister Chuck Hagel have travelled the Middle East to counter, is already a footstep away from Saudi Arabia and Jordan . The stated objective is a grand regional coalition headed by GCC members but including also moderate Arab regimes such as Egypt and Jordan. A direct and indirect military offensive, a financial one to cut Isiss funding, as well as a legal and cultural one to weaken jihadi propaganda and recruitment. The American proposal comes at a difficult juncture in the relationship between Washington and Persian Gulf countries. The uncertainties ascribed to president Obamas foreign policy in the region and the meager forms of support offered to Syrian rebels during the initial phases of their revolt, a support Saudi Arabia actually forcefully called for, are weighing hard on the relationship. However, given the threat Isis represents to all Persian Gulf monarchies the American proposal could be viewed as an opportunity not to be dismessed. (ANSAmed).
Posted on: Thu, 11 Sep 2014 15:12:25 +0000