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Minister of state for defence affairs Mohammed Bin Ahmed Al-Bowardi led a delegation of senior officers and officials to the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) meeting held in Poland on 8-9 July. Bowardi held talks with Nato deputy secretary-general Alexander Vershbow to discuss ways of promoting co-operation, including military training, in the latest sign of Nato’s interest in bolstering ties with the Gulf. In March, Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg visited Kuwait, including the site of the planned Nato-Kuwait Istanbul Co-operation Initiative Regional Centre – its first presence in the Gulf.

The US Army has renewed a contract with DynCorp International to provide support to the Kuwait Air Force’s AH-64D Apache helicopter maintenance programme for 16 AH-64D Apache Block II aircraft. The fixed-price contract has one base year with four, one-year options and a total contract value of $25.4m if all options are exercised, DynCorp said in a statement. The new contract will take over in July from an old one, signed in 2008 and worth $18.3m, a spokeswoman for the company said (GSN 841/7).

Among more than 200 prisoners pardoned by Oman’s Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Al-Said on the occasion of Renaissance Day on 23 July were 14 activists jailed for taking part in anti-government protests in 2011. The day before the anniversary of the sultan’s accession, it emerged that the amnesty would extend to the 14 so-called Sohar prisoners, who were serving terms of between 30 months and five years for their role in protests in the northern industrial port town. Charges against them included verbally insulting public servants, blocking traffic, causing public inconvenience and vandalising public property.

In line with the thawing of relations with Cuba, the UAE has opened a diplomatic mission in Havana, inaugurated during an official visit in early October by foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan. Diplomatic relations were established in March 2002, and the decision to open an embassy made in June 2014. In May 2014, the UAE and Cuba signed an open skies agreement. Among other co-operation, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development is to finance a 10MW solar power plant.

Kuwait Petroleum Company’s overseas upstream subsidiary Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (Kufpec) has signed an exploration licence covering a 1,560km2 area of the Makhad sector in Pakistan’s Punjab province.The deal, announced on 22 May, was been signed by Kufpec’s Kirthar Pakistan division. Kufpec has a long history in Pakistan, where it has been active since 1987; it has invested more than $1bn over that time.

The Hôtel de Crillon in Paris, belonging to Saudi Arabian National Guard head Prince Miteb Bin Abdullah, is to close its doors for a two-year renovation by the Lebanese architect Aline d’Amman. The Crillon was French-owned until 2005, when ownership passed to US group Starwood Capital and then, in 2010, to Prince Miteb for a reported €250m ($327m). Prince Miteb’s first cousin Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal owns the GeorgeV Hotel in Paris.

A lengthy meeting between Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah and opposition MPs on 1 November focused on their concerns over the ability of the prime minister and government to run the country.

Wedding

It is little surprise that US vice-president Joe Biden’s undiplomatic 2 October comments to students at Harvard University infuriated the leadership of the UAE. Biden, speaking at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, responded to a question about the war in Syria by saying, “our biggest problem is our allies”. He went on to explain that the Turks, Saudis and Emiratis were all so determined to take down Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and “essentially have a proxy Sunni-Shia war”, that they “poured hundreds of millions of dollars and thousands of tons of weapons into anyone who would fight against Assad”, thus inadvertently supplying money and weapons to Jabhat Al-Nusra, Al-Qaeda and other extremists.

The estate of the bankrupt Icelandic bank Kaupthing has settled a dispute with the emir’s brother, former deputy prime minister Mohammed. The dispute stemmed from a deal the sheikh made to buy shares in the bank just before its 2008 collapse through his Q Iceland Holding. The bank had issued legal proceedings against the sheikh in Iceland.

The region stretching from the Bosphorus to the Gulf must accommodate itself to a new strategic reality, as the United States – under new management and with a harrowing roster of domestic issues to resolve – disengages from Iraq, while focusing hard on Afghanistan and its neighbours.

Doha and Tehran are to hold a Joint Economic Commission meeting in Iran in May, in the latest sign of strengthening ties between the two countries. Iranian energy minister Reza Ardakanian confirmed the plans on 12 January, saying the talks would be held ahead of an agricultural investment exhibition. Tourism is likely to be a focus, with Iran keen to tap into Qatari investment.

A royal order on 23 April relieved Prince Abdullah Bin Musaid Bin Abdelaziz from his position, held since June 2014, as president of the General Authority for Sports (known until May 2016 as the General Presidency for Youth Welfare). Abdullah is a prominent businessman and has football interests. He is former president of Al-Hilal club and abroad he is a shareholder in English Football League club Sheffield United.

Essam Abdul Mohsen Al-Marzouq, former chairman of Boursa Kuwait and a board member of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and Kuwait Investment Authority, has been named oil minister as well as electricity and water minister. Anas Al-Saleh, who had been acting oil minister, keeps his job as finance minister.

The International Monetary Fund has forecast growth of just 1.3% this year as the UAE economy’s expected 3.3% expansion of non-oil GDP is offset by a 2.9% decline in oil GDP as a result of production cuts. The IMF expects the federal budget deficit to fall to 4.5% of GDP in 2017 and for economic growth to rise above 3% “over the medium term”.