Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain Withdraw Ambassadors from Qatar - Report Example

College: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain Withdraw Ambassadors from Qatar Introduction Political alliances are founded on the notion that, when nations join forces, they gain additional power and are better equipped to safeguard the interests of their citizens. These affiliations also recognize the essence of a unified vision in fostering regional peace and economic growth. The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is not any different when it comes to the fundamental reasons of formation. Most of the council’s plans put emphasis on the need to enhance competitiveness and economic productivity of affiliate Muslim nations, through creation of an environment conducive to business growth. The GCC’s other target areas include integration of partisan economies with the international knowledge economy, luring foreign investors, promoting innovation, encouraging entrepreneurship, and making sure that involved nations have adequate finances to boost small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) (Beidas-Strom et al 21-27). The council further seeks to support foreign labor inflow, as proven by the fact that economic growth in GCC nations is labour-intensive and always associated with a large number of foreign workers. It is highly imperative for GCC nations to apply and strictly adhere to principles of membership agreement, in order to continue enjoying equal opportunities. Failure to observe such principles of agreement could lead to a falling out, to the detriment of the cut off country. This paper seeks to examine the case of such disagreement, as depicted by the withdrawal of ambassadors from Qatar, by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain. History on GCC countries The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) was constituted by an accord formalized on 21st May 1981. The agreement was officiated in Saudi Arabia’s capital, Riyadh, and involved six nations including Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, the UAE, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. These Muslims nations saw it fit to form an alliance largely based on the similarity of their Islamic political systems, geographical proximity, common objectives and other special relations. The coalition uses Arabic as its official language and is guided by a charter containing distinctive provisions (Ibrahim 32). For instance, the GCC Charter stipulates that the council’s fundamental objectives are to foster inter-connection, integration and coordination between member nations in all sectors. The charter is also emphatic on the council’s role in strengthening links between member states’ citizens and formulating comparable regulations in diverse fields like trade, finance, economy, legislation, tourism, customs and overall administration. The GCC also bears the responsibility of fostering technical and scientific progress in agriculture, mining, industry, animal and water resources, while founding research centres, establishing joint ventures, and promoting governments’ cooperation with the private sectors. Given its strong ties, the GCC encompasses some of world’s fastest developing economies in the world. This is an aspect largely attributable to the countries’ large reserves of oil and natural gas, as well as, an investment and building boom over the past years. GCC Organization Structure Just like other political alliances, the GCC has a formal organizational structure comprising of a supreme council, ministerial council, as well as, a secretariat general. The latter is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. These administrative arms of the GCC are guided by the council’s constitution in coordinating, integrating and fostering cooperation of member nations all social, cultural and economic affairs. GCC’s supreme council represents the alliance’s highest authority and it consists of heads of state from each member nation. The supreme council usually convenes once annually for ordinary sessions. The leadership of the council is held by one member state at a time, while resolutions are achieved through majority vote. Further, the supreme council bears the responsibility of establishing GCC policy and evaluating, as well as, approving recommendations provided by the secretariat general or ministerial council. On the other hand, the ministerial council consists of foreign ministers from the six member nations. This council usually convenes on a quarterly basis, or after every three months. However, the council can meet for emergency sessions at any time, but the convention must have been summoned by at least two foreign ministers. The ministerial council formulates policies, makes decisions and provides recommendations on ways of increasing collaboration and organization amongst members in the cultural, economic and social spheres. Finally, the secretariat general is responsible for preparing accounts, budgets, studies and reports for the GCC. This administrative branch also drafts regulations and is responsible for assisting member countries in implementing decisions approved by the supreme or ministerial councils. Ambassadors Withdrawal With the GCC background information, it is now relatively easy to comprehend the council’s recent predicament. In the implied case, three GCC member countries withdrew their high ranking diplomats from Qatar. The nations, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, called back their ambassadors from Qatar, as a sign of disapproval of the latter’s failure to fully adhere to GCC principles. The strangely public and unprecedented move showed that there has been simmering conflict between the GCC nations that the public was not fully aware of. The dispute was also highly controversial, especially considering the effusively sociable association of these Gulf Arab countries. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain and Saudi Arabia all stated that their reason for withdrawal was Qatar’s failure to uphold its side of a GCC security agreement that requires cessation of interfering in other countries’ politics. The countries also insisted that Qatar supports organizations like the Muslim Brotherhood, which threaten security and stability in the Gulf. Therefore, the three insist that their move was for the security of their citizens and the Gulf at large (Batrawy n.pg). The withdrawal decision, which was made at a critical time, prior to Egypt’s presidential elections in April is an exemplary illustration of what happens when there is discord in a political alliance. Apparently, Qatar’s head of state, Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani did not honor a security accord signed in Saudi Arabia in November of 2013. The agreement, clearly stipulated that member states would not interfere directly or indirectly, with another country’s internal affairs. It also stated that the states should not support individuals, organizations or even hostile media that pose a threat to the stability or security of other member nations. Therefore, by failing to reprimand its Al Jazeera news network, supporting the Muslim Brotherhood, and seemingly supporting Egypt’s ousted president, Qatar violated the signed accord (Batrawy n.pg). Effect of the Withdrawal on Egypt Egypt previously designated Muslim Brotherhood as one of the active terrorist groups in the year 2013. This is why; Egyptian leaders have been criticizing Qatar for interfering with Egyptian affairs. This is what has led to Egypt summoning its ambassador in Doha back to Egypt. This is an act that showed Egypt was serious on dealing with terrorism which has been one of the major issues that the GCC has helped in abolishing. The Egyptian Foreign Ministry decided to return the Qatar ambassador to Cairo with no intentions of retuning him. This is t show that they were furious about Qatar’s meddling in their internal security issues which is a major breach of the GCC agreement (Sturm, Strasky, Adolf and Peschel 54-57). Egypt is now the fourth Arab state to pull its ambassador out of Qatar over the fact that it is supporting the Islamists in the country who plan terrorist attacks and also support the deposed president Mohamed Morsi. The move will enable Egypt to deal with the brotherhood without any problem especially due to the fact that they are approaching their election period. The move to withdraw the Egyptian ambassador from Qatar has given them credibility with GCC as well as the support they need especially in terms of business operations. This due to the fact that after the withdrawal, there was a press conference by Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt’s where their statement formalized the breach between Doha and Cairo. The move adds on Qatar’s sudden segregation in the region but also reinforcing Egypt’s alliance binding to new government backed by military of the other oil-rich GCC members (Sturm et al 65). Pros and Cons of the Withdrawal Pros Generally the pullout shows that there were internal wrangles in the GCC which need t be discussed. Therefore, the pullout will not only give Qatar a chance to deal with their issues, but also give a chance to the other members to discuss the existing contentious issues and solve them from a basic aspect. This means that they will be able to formulate a firm foundation on the issues affecting the organization (Sturm, Adolf and Peschel 54-57). Qatar will be able to make more independent decisions regarding their country without the interference of the GCC members. This means that they can be able to approach other countries to conduct business with easily without the retrains of the GCC. Therefore, despite the fact that one can see this as loss for Qatar, there is a possibility that it is a huge opportunity for the country to practice their foreign policies towards making new allies especially in business aspects (Sturm, Adolf and Peschel 60-63). Pulling out ambassadors from Qatar will be beneficial to the members. This is because they will not be associated with a country that is thought to be supporting terrorist acts. For instance, Al Jazeera, which is in Qatar, is seen to be openly pro-Brotherhood. This means that they are supporting terrorist acts which are not a good option for foreign policies (Sturm, Adolf and Peschel 65). Cons After the withdrawal, Qatar experienced a major drop in the stock market. This is a huge loss for the country’s economic growth which has been on the rise for a period when it was a member of the GCC. By withdrawing the ambassadors from this Qatar, it shows that the country can no longer be trusted by the other members and that all financial Aid will be withdrawn (Jean, Balli and Osman 1890-1892). The other major disadvantage of the pull out affects the trading development. Before, trading was on high not in Qatar Exchange,. This was shown by the 1.4 billion shares that were exchanging hands before the decision by the three countries to pull out their ambassadors. After that move, the market declined by 21% which was double compared to the previous day. This is one of the largest losses experience by the country in the last two years (Jean, Balli and Osman 1895-1897). The country’s GDP will also be affected by the pull out. This is because; of the fact that there will be no more multilateral trade systems which will ensure that there is transparency and clarity in their financial institutions. This will not only lead to a drop in the GDP but also lack of trust from the other countries that they were conducting business with. Since the country is a member of the countries that produce oil, there is a possibility that its oil market will be affected because of the conflict that is being experienced with the other countries who are in the business of exporting oil (Jean, Balli and Osman 1898-1900). Foreign labour will reduce tremendously. This is because people from the GCC members will not be given work permits to work at Qatar. This way they will not be able to meet not only the export demand, but also the local demand for oil. Additionally, there is a chance that they will have high tariffs when exporting their oil compared to the other countries in the GCC. This is because; the GCC headed all the negotiations pertaining to tariffs that were levied to its members (Jean, Balli and Osman 1905-1908). Since Qatar has been reported to of Terrorism suspicions activities by inciting the blood brothers, it automatically means that their foreign policies are going to be affected. This is especially because many people will not want to be associated with a Nation that is suspected of fueling terrorist attacks. Additionally, travelling of Qatar nationals will also be affected because of the immense suspicions associated with terrorism (Jean, Balli and Osman 1912-1915). Conclusion Political unity and cohesion is an imperative aspect for the member countries because it helps with not only having good foreign policies, but also growth in development. Therefore, withdrawing ambassadors from Qatar presents a huge set back to the country’s economical growth. This is because; it affects the labour market as well as the exports structures that were previously set by the GCC. Therefore, it is imperative for the country to refocus on the imperative issues set in the GCC agreement and stop interfering with another country’s security issues. The move to pull out the Works Cited Beidas-Strom, Samya et al. Gulf Cooperation Council Countries Enhancing Economic Outcomes in an Uncertain Global Economy. Middle East and Central Asia Department, (2011): 4-100. Sturm, Michael, Strasky Jan, Adolf Petra and Peschel Dominik. The Gulf Cooperation Council Countries Economic Structures, Recent Developments and Role in the Global Economy. Occasional Paper series, 92.6(2008): 3-75. Jean, Rosmy and Balli, Faruk and Osman, Mohammad. Is the US dollar a suitable anchor for the newly proposed GCC currency? Published in The World Economy, 33.12(2010): 1898-1922. Ibrahim, Badr El Din. Economic Cooperation in the Gulf, Issues in the economies of the Arab Gulf co-operation council states. New York, NY: Routledge. 2007. Batrawy, Aya. Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain withdraw ambassadors from Qatar over its support for Islamists. 2014. Web. March 10, 2014. Read More