Jordan News

The Independent Arabic newspaper, published in London, published a comprehensive report on the tripartite Baghdad summit, which was held last Sunday, with the participation of His Majesty King Abdullah II, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi, in which it addressed the dimensions of this summit and its importance in political and economic terms, both Whether that is for the three countries or the countries of the region in general.

Following is the text of the report:

Since March 2019, Egypt, Iraq and Jordan have taken successive steps towards forming a “strategic partnership” between the three countries, based on the economic and investment dimensions, without neglecting the political and security aspects, after the inauguration of what was known at the leaders’ summit of those first countries. In the Egyptian capital, Cairo, with the “Tripartite Coordination Mechanism”.

And coinciding with the Baghdad summit, between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, who is the first Egyptian president to visit the Iraqi capital in more than 3 decades, and King Abdullah II, and their host, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kazemi, who described the partnership of the three emerging countries as an “alliance.” The New Levant.” Observers wonder whether “deepening cooperation and coordination between the capitals of those Arab countries” might change the political and economic equations in the region in light of the available opportunities and challenges, especially the broad regional interventions in Arab countries and issues that may hinder their progress.

4 summits and several ministerial meetings

After about two years and three months, the current Baghdad summit, which is the fourth summit in the course of the “tripartite coordination mechanism” between Egypt, Iraq and Jordan, which has been postponed twice, the first when the bloody train collision occurred in Egypt last March, and the second following the “destabilization” issue. In Jordan in April 2021.

In the previous three summits, the first of which was in Cairo on March 24, 2019 (attended by former Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi), and the second in New York on the sidelines of the work of the United Nations General Assembly on September 22 of the same year (in the presence of Abdul-Mahdi), And the third, in the Jordanian capital, on August 25, 2020, the main discussions of the leaders of those countries, as well as the ministerial meetings and specialized committees that took place in them, focused on “the importance of strengthening cooperation and coordination in vital economic and investment fields, such as electrical interconnection, energy projects, reconstruction and joint economic areas, and discussing maximizing Opportunities and overcoming existing challenges, in an effort to move forward in the coming years to the stage of sustainable development,” according to the monitoring of “The Independent Arabia,” and accordingly, many agreements were signed between the three countries in the economic, investment, energy, oil and electricity fields.

Despite the economic and investment dimension of the “emerging alliance”, the political and security dimensions have not disappeared in the intense discussions that the three countries have been conducting over the recent period, which included the files of security coordination, combating terrorism and extremist Islamic organizations, as well as emphasizing the rejection of regional interference from non-state actors. The Arab countries in the region are destabilizing and destabilizing, and emphasizing on working with the rest of the Arab countries to restore stability in the region, and working to find solutions to the set of crises facing a number of their countries, including the Palestinian issue, and the crises in Syria, Libya and Yemen.

According to previous statements by the leaders of the three countries, the close historical, social and cultural relations and ties, and the geographical communication between their countries, as well as the integration of strategic and economic interests, are “real opportunities” to enhance cooperation, coordination and integration between the three countries by taking advantage of them, under delicate circumstances the nation is going through. Arab and unprecedented challenges faced by Arab national security.

With each summit or ministerial meeting at the level of the foreign ministers of the three countries, the importance of the meeting is emphasized periodically to coordinate positions and policies among them in order to achieve the interests of their peoples in stability and economic prosperity and achieve common goals through cooperation and building balanced international relations, as well as forming a team Work to follow up the work of the summit.

OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

In light of the broad economic and investment hopes advocated by the officials of the three countries for the opportunities available in their countries to achieve economic integration and sustainable development as a main pillar of the “New Levant Alliance” according to the description of the Iraqi Prime Minister, or the “New Levant Alliance,” according to the description of some observers, is counting Specialists provided that these ambitions be reflected on the ground to be a nucleus through which to change the “economic equations in the region.”

The volume of intra-trade between the three countries is still not at the desired level. According to the data of the Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry, the volume of Egypt’s exports to the Iraqi market during the first 5 months of this year amounted to about 199 million dollars, noting that the volume of trade exchange between Egypt and Iraq amounts to one billion. and 600 million dollars.

In terms of trade exchange between Egypt and Jordan, data from the Ministry of Trade and Industry stated that Egyptian exports to the Jordanian market amounted during the first 5 months of 2021 to about $233 million, adding that the volume of trade exchange between the two countries during 2020 amounted to about $616.3 million, compared to $567.5 million in 2019. The same is not much different with regard to the volume of bilateral trade between Iraq and Jordan, which did not exceed half a billion dollars, according to the Jordanian Department of Statistics.

“Approaching the idea of ​​economic integration and maximizing investment opportunities through alliances between Arab countries remains the closest way to achieving the equation of sustainable development and prosperity for the peoples of those countries and the region,” said Lina Mazloum, an Iraqi writer and media figure, adding, “Arab markets are characterized by the availability of aspects of cooperation and integration, especially with Availability of production elements, as well as manpower capable of filling the economic voids that some Arab countries suffer from.”

Mazloum stated, “The move by the three countries in recent years to enhance and deepen economic cooperation reflects a good understanding of the capabilities and capabilities of the three countries, as well as the possibility of exchanging expertise and experiences in their Arab context without the need for regional agendas from non-Arab parties seeking to destabilize and destabilize the region.”

She added, “The logical necessity and the urgent circumstances that the countries of the region are going through make it imperative for us to encourage Arab attempts to establish blocs that can counter regional ambitions in Arab wealth.”

For his part, Khaled Shneikat, a Jordanian professor of political science, says that “the continuous holding of summits between the leaders of the three countries reflects the real will among them to activate cooperation between these countries, take advantage of their economic potential, and their broad market, which includes more than 160 million people,” explaining “It is certain that this bloc may lead to increased cooperation, especially in light of the declared goals of energy and oil projects, electrical interconnection and preferential economic transactions between countries, which may push for an increase in the volume of trade exchange between them.”

“If this bloc develops, it is likely to produce a new political reality, which may be the nucleus of the first real Arab project after the Arab Spring uprisings that began in 2011, and a serious attempt to confront regional interventions in a collective context,” Shnekat said.

He points out that if this bloc succeeds and implements what was promised to facilitate the passage of goods, merchandise and services between countries and the transfer and encouragement of investments, it may be “similar to the iron and steel group that was established in Europe in the fifties of the last century, and was the locomotive towards completing the European common market, And later economic unity and currency unification, which may push more Arab countries to join it.”

Is there a change expected in the region?

According to observers who spoke to The Independent, the “New Levant Alliance” is still in its infancy, and anticipating its political and security repercussions on the region’s equations remains with the seriousness of the steps taken on the ground during the coming months and years between the three countries.

In the opinion of Ambassador Gamal Bayoumi, former assistant foreign minister, this bloc will not “change the political and economic equations in the region, but at the same time it may deepen and strengthen the Arab position in the face of the major problems facing the region.”

Bayoumi added, “The most prominent feature of this bloc is that a group of economically and politically capable and qualified countries decided, in the delicate circumstances the region is going through, to deepen relations of cooperation and integration among them, at the economic level and without neglecting the political and security dimensions,” noting that one of the most important challenges that may Such Arab moves remain in the regional interventions of non-Arab parties seeking to destabilize security and stability and deepen Arab crises, which are encouraged internally by political and sectarian tensions in some countries.

On the other hand, Mustafa Kamel El-Sayed, a professor of political science at Cairo University, says that until today, the positions and statements taken by the officials of the three countries are “new positions,” and accordingly, as he described it, the step in its entirety remains, “a step on the right path, reflecting a kind of From the unilateral Arab will, away from external dictates and foreign interference, and in line with the interests of those countries.”

Kamel al-Sayed believes that “the Arab reality and its accumulated crises cannot be changed, whether at the economic, political and security levels between day and night or based on ambitions and hopes, but such moves remain the beginning of some Arab countries’ solidarity and coordination among them, and a framework that may expand to include other countries in the region. in the future.”

Another vision put forward by Imad Gad, Vice President of the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, is the requirement to implement the promises on the ground to change the political and economic equations in the region, the first of which may be “the restoration of Iraq to the Arab embrace and its removal from the circle of Iranian hegemony.”

According to Jad, the “current coordination mechanism between the three countries”, through which a set of advantages can be extracted, among them, “to draw Iraq away from Iranian influence, and to provide political and economic support to Jordan in light of the relentless attempts to create a rift in its political system, and finally, to form an alliance An Arab based on real economic interests that may motivate other countries in the region to join in the future.”

He added, “In light of the historical experience in the region, the biggest scourge remains, which is the launch of such blocs on major projects and goals, without paying attention to the need to build entanglements from the bottom that push towards major common interests and goals, and therefore deepen cooperation.”