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Fujairah Ruler Sheikh Hamad Bin Mohammed Al-Sharqi on 19 September received participants of the Gulf Intelligence Energy Markets Forum at Rumailah Palace, including Iraqi oil minister Jaber Al-Luaibi.

Father Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani made a rare public appearance on 12 November when he attended the opening in Doha of state-of-the-art women and children’s hospital Sidra Medicine. His wife Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser, chair of the Qatar Foundation, inaugurated the hospital in an event also attended by prime minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al-Thani and aother royal family members.

The authorities have freed 82 prisoners detained during anti-government protests in the south in a step towards implementing an accord with the opposition. “Eighty-two prisoners were freed in Al-Mukalla on the orders of President Ali Abdullah Saleh after the deal was signed with the opposition,” a local official told AFP on 21 July.

The return of Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to Kuwait after an extended period of medical checks in New York appears to have settled some nerves about the immediate succession. Notwithstanding his health issues, the 90-year-old emir appears in relatively good shape for his age. However, succession is set to remain a live issue, particularly given fresh doubts about Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah’s future as heir apparent.

The deal signed between the Houthis and the government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi in Stockholm in December remains at the centre of diplomatic efforts to resolve the Yemen war, but there are considerable doubts over the willingness of the warring parties to honour their commitments. At the same time, there are warnings that the peace accord – the most significant element of which is designed to prevent a potentially devastating battle for the city of Hodeidah – will do nothing to bring fighting in other parts of the country to an end.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif arrived in Jeddah on 21 July to perform Umrah, and held a series of meetings with the leadership. On 22 July, he met Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdelaziz, who was attended by various princes, including deputy crown prince Miqrin Bin Abdelaziz, King Abdullah’s sons Miteb (minister of the national guard) and Abdelaziz (deputy minister of foreign affairs), interior minister Mohammed Bin Nayef, and the crown prince’s son Mohammed Bin Salman. The following day, Prince Miqrin had another meeting with Sharif, who was travelling with his finance minister, Muhammad Ishaq Dar, and on 24 July, King Abdullah hosted Sharif at his palace in Jeddah.

Standard & Poor’s (S&P) on 17 February downgraded Saudi Arabia, Oman and Bahrain, which the ratings agency said reflected its expectations that oil prices would stay lower for longer. Downgrades of Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) sovereign ratings highlight the worsening environment for regional economies more than one year into the Saudi-led battle for oil ‘market share’. With several governments planning to increase foreign borrowing to counter rising deficits, downgrades add to the cost of loans and add to pressures on dollar peg currencies like the Saudi riyal.

Bahrain’s National Consensus Dialogue tentatively began on Sunday 10 February with a three-hour meeting between government officials and members of the political opposition in the opulent surroundings of the Al-Areen resort in Sukhair. Its chances of success, not good to begin with, were dimmed by violence on and around 14 February, the second anniversary of the uprising against autocratic rule.

A move by UAE state telecommunications company Etisalat to buy a substantial stake in Kuwaiti telecoms player Zain comes as Abu Dhabi extends its ambitions to buy assets in the region following the global downturn.

Political activists have been increasingly vocal about the need for reform. Recent strikes and protests have put the government on edge and led to a number of arrests that have drawn condemnation from rights groups worldwide

Foreign secretary Philip Hammond arrived in Saudi Arabia on 29 May at the start of a tour of Gulf states also taking in Kuwait, Bahrain, the UAE and Oman, intended to press for more concerted action on Syria and Yemen. Hammond was to meet UN special envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed in Kuwait. The previous week Ould Cheikh Ahmed met UK junior foreign minister Tobias Ellwood in Qatar.

New projections from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) confirm that the Gulf economies are experiencing something of a buffeting in 2013, with reduced momentum in the oil sector sapping headline growth. The IMF projects real economic growth in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) of 3.7% in 2013, substantially below the 6.4% average in 2010-12, though with 2014 shaping up as a better year, there is certainly no cause for panic.
The narrative is familiar to long-term observers of the fluctuating fortunes of the oil-dependent Gulf economies.

The Financial Action Taskforce’s late-June meeting also decided that Iraq would no longer be subject to FATF monitoring under its global AML/CFT compliance process. This was a result of the “significant progress” made by Baghdad in addressing deficiencies previously identified by the FATF, the Paris-based group said.

Following Emirati foreign minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s visit to Canada in early March for talks with the Canadian premier Stephen Harper and foreign minister John Baird (GSN 919/10), Baird was due in Saudi Arabia and Qatar this week for meetings with officials.

The UK parliament’s Committees on Arms Export Controls (CAEC) – a combination of four separate House of Commons select committees – has launched an enquiry into UK arms exports. CAEC plans to hold public evidence sessions in the new year focused on, among other things, controls on arms brokering, export licensing decisions, the gifting of equipment by the UK to other countries and government-to-government transfers and projects. CAEC has invited written submissions by 15 January.