November 13, 2016
Former Kuwaiti Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Dr. Mohammad Sabah AlSalem AlSabah stated today, Sunday, that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states have a great responsibility in leading Arab action in a way that ensures fundamental Arab interests and leads them to safety.
Dr. Mohammad AlSabah, in a statement to Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) following his participation in the first session of the Third Abu Dhabi Strategic Forum, added: "It is incumbent upon the Gulf states to coordinate with Arab countries that still maintain their entity to prevent further collapse and disintegration in the region."
He pointed out that the coming year will witness many situations and changes shrouded in mystery, making it difficult to predict their implications on international politics or the strategic stage.
In this regard, he referred to the approach that the elected President of the United States, Donald Trump, will adopt in the coming phase and its repercussions on European policy, Britain's exit from the European Union, and the extent of its impact on the political and economic situation in Europe, in addition to the French and German elections.
Dr. Mohammad AlSabah said, "The Arab world faces many challenges at the national level and regional risks in the Middle East, whether in terms of external interference in the affairs of Gulf countries, terrorism, or Israel and its negative impact on the Palestinian issue."
He added, "What the Palestinians are suffering from almost explodes a revolution in our emotions because of the injustice and continuous persecution they are subjected to under the critical conditions facing our Arab world."
He mentioned that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries are the only regional system that has withstood this "tsunami" of events in the region, noting that the Arab system urgently needs to re-unify its ranks after the changes it has undergone. In the same context, Dr. Ebtesam Al-Ketbi, President of the Emirates Policy Center, said in her speech at the opening of the forum that the forum aims to read regional and international developments on the political, security, and economic developmental levels.
Al-Ketbi added that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries have become a pivotal and influential axis regionally and internationally, relied upon by some Arab countries with strategic weight to contribute to solving crises in those countries and restoring stability to them.
Al-Ketbi pointed out that the forum gains great importance because it is held amid ongoing crises and conflicts in the region, such as the war in Syria, Yemen, conflicts in Libya and Iraq, and days after the end of the presidential elections in America and its new leadership.
The forum, which concludes its activities tomorrow, Monday, includes more sessions covering topics such as regional security cooperation in the Gulf, US foreign policy under the new administration, counter-terrorism, and the mystery in the Arab strategic scene.