Search results

Kuwait has all but left behind its former status as a pre-eminent hub of regional diplomacy, as the leadership is widely perceived to have walked away from its role as mediator in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) and its neighbours. Concerned by this apparent inaction on the regional stage, GSN has been asking: why has Kuwait apparently retired from playing such a significant diplomatic role?

Even while Iranian diplomatic efforts are focused on talks with global powers to revive the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – the nuclear deal whose revival would significantly improve the economic outlook – the domestic situation remains fragile.

The failure of Yemen’s warring parties to renew their truce in October is regarded by many observers as a sign of both the increasing strength of the Houthi rebel group and a failure of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) to resolve its own internal differences.

Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman (MBS) has worked hard to remove any possibility of political opposition emerging from within Al-Saud ranks over the past five years. This campaign has involved several bouts of locking up senior family members, with the clear backing of his father King Salman, most notably in November 2017 but most recently in March when Princes Ahmed Bin Abdelaziz and Mohammed Bin Nayef were moved from house arrest to prison.

Isolated by its erstwhile ‘GCC-3’ allies, Qatar gave some very public thanks to those who had stuck by it following the boycott launched by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt in June 2017 when, in the first half of October, it invited senior officials and companies from the likes of Iran, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan to Doha to share a stage with Qatari government ministers.

Qatar and Mauritania are to re-establish diplomatic relations, which had been severed during the recently-ended boycott of Doha by the Gulf trio of Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

A summit of regional leaders, held in Abu Dhabi on 18 January, appeared to be hastily arranged and did not include representatives from Saudi Arabia or Kuwait. It has nevertheless prompted widespread speculation about what may have been discussed and the meeting’s wider meaning. Such interest reflects its host’s apparently ever increasing prominence in international affairs.

Dubai Crown Prince and Executive Council of Dubai chairman Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum announced a Dh500m ($136m) economic stimulus package on 24 October, in the authorities’ latest efforts to short up the emirate’s economy.

Unit 1 of the Barakah nuclear plant has started commercial operations, according to a statement from the Emirates Nuclear Energy Corporation on 6 April.

Iraq has been hosting reconciliation talks between Iranian and Egyptian officials which should lead to the reestablishment of diplomatic relations "in the near future".

Qatar will hold elections for the Central Municipal Council (CMC) on 22 June. The first election for the council was held in March 1999 and polls have been held every four years since then.

Iran has appointed Alireza Enayati as its ambassador to Saudi Arabia, following the China-brokered rapprochement between the two Gulf powers in March. Enayati previously served as ambassador to Kuwait, from 2014 to 2019.

The UAE has signed a contract with Spain's Escribano Mechanical & Engineering (EM&E) to buy 516 of its Guardian 30 remote weapon stations. The units can be mounted on armoured vehicles and have a 30mm cannon, a 7.62mm machine gun and electro-optical targeting systems.

UAE President Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan hosted Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council chairman Rashad Al-Alimi at Qasr Al-Bahr in Abu Dhabi.

Staff Lieutenant Commander Sheikh Isa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa – a son of Bahrain’s Prime Minister and Crown Prince Sheikh Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa – has completed the year-long Joint Command and Staff Course at the United States Marine Corps University (MCU) in Virginia.