The ups and downs of Iraq-Saudi relations/convergent economic approach

Mehr News Agency, International Group: After the defeat of ISIS and the expulsion of the terrorist forces supported by Saudi Arabia and America from Iraq, the officials Iraqi politicians are seeking to establish deeper political and economic relations with Saudi Arabia since 2019.

Iraqi officials considering the special conditions of Iraq and the economic problems and debts caused by the war and The American occupation in Iraq for two decades strongly considers this country to be in need of political and economic stability, and for this reason, they seek to establish good relations with the two important regional players, Iran and Saudi Arabia.

With the Shi’a coming to power Al-Sudani, the new Iraqi Prime Minister, in parallel with the deepening of his country’s relations with Saudi Arabia, took on mediation between Iran and Saudi Arabia. After the settlement of the initial political relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the efforts of Iraqi politicians for a convergent approach with Saudi Arabia intensified.

The convergent economic approach of Iraq and Saudi Arabia

After the geopolitical defeat of ISIS at the end of 2017 in Iraq, the Iraqi authorities sought to meet the reconstruction needs and solve the country’s long-term economic problems. The World Bank has estimated the reconstruction needs of Iraq after ISIS at 88 billion dollars. Therefore, Iraq is looking for financial providing for the reconstruction of this country.

At the Iraq reconstruction assistance conference held in February 2018 in Kuwait, the amount of promises and aid announced to Iraq by Saudi Arabia was 1.5 billion dollars. . In addition to this financial aid, ending Iraq’s 70 billion dollar debt to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, during the decision of the Arab League in April 2019, provided another opportunity for Iraq to further develop its relations with Saudi Arabia. This country considers the establishment of stable, positive and constructive relations with all countries as a basis for realizing the goal of rebuilding Iraq.

Initiation of the Iraq-Saudi Coordination Council in Riyadh and Jeddah

In order to deepen the relations between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, these two countries have launched a coordination council in recent years. According to Shafaq News Iraq, according to the statement of the office of Mohammad Shia Al-Sudani, the Prime Minister of Iraq, Al-Sudani met and talked with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the meeting of Arab and Chinese leaders in Riyadh. According to the aforementioned statement, the two sides discussed the mechanisms of setting up the Iraq-Saudi Coordination Council and the implementation of the agreements and notes of the two countries.

Al-Sudani in this meeting on the importance of the meeting of heads of Arab countries and China to achieve economic integration In line with the interests of the nations of the region, he emphasized and announced Iraq’s readiness to develop bilateral relations with Saudi Arabia, especially in the field of economy and investment. In this meeting, the Saudi crown prince also emphasized the desire of Saudi Arabia to continue its relations with Iraq for more mutual cooperation in various fields.

After bilateral meetings and diplomatic exchanges between the political parties of Iraq and Saudi Arabia in 25 months of May Last year, the fifth round of the Iraq-Saudi Coordination Council meeting was held in Jeddah under the chairmanship of Majid bin Abdullah al-Qasbi. /span>, Saudi Trade Minister, and Mohammad Ali Tamim, Iraq’s Rizi Program Minister, It was held.

Iraq and Saudi Arabia emphasized their determination to strengthen bilateral relations in all fields. According to the final statement of this meeting, the two sides emphasized the importance of expanding the perspectives of bilateral cooperation and strengthening it in various fields, especially political, security, commercial, investment, cultural, They emphasized education, tourism and energy.

Iraq and Saudi Arabia praised the successful efforts of the OPEC+ countries in consolidating the stability of the global oil market and stressed the importance of continuing this cooperation and the need for all countries to adhere to the OPEC+ agreement. they did Iraq and Saudi Arabia emphasized the importance of cooperation and cohesion and efforts to establish a strategic partnership in the special economic zones of Saudi Arabia and Iraq through efforts to establish a special economic zone on the border of the two countries.

In this statement, the continuation of joint cooperation in dealing with the threat of extremism and terrorism as a threat to the countries of the region and the world is mentioned, and the two countries continue to support Iraq’s efforts in cooperation with the international coalition to deal with terrorism and extremism and agreed on the importance of cooperation to shared borders emphasized.

Establishing communication stations for electricity exchange between Iraq and Saudi Arabia

Since Iraq has weakened its infrastructure in recent years due to the American occupation and the aggression of terrorist forces, it needs to repair and rebuild these infrastructures, including the electricity problem. It is in Iraq. In the past year, the Ministry of Electricity of this country announced the beginning of the construction of communication stations with Saudi Arabia and determining the route of the transmission lines. The spokesman of the Iraqi Ministry of Electricity said that his country is creating and preparing stations for communication between Iraq and Saudi Arabia.

According to “Ahmed Musa”, Iraq has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Saudi side regarding the electricity connection of the two countries and the Ministry of Electricity of this country has taken important steps in this regard. Is. He considered the main goal of implementing electricity connection projects to be the readiness and stability of the electricity network, as well as to introduce Iraq to the energy market, including Arab countries, Persian Gulf countries, and other countries. Musa says that under these projects, Iraq is one of the important members of the energy market to achieve the stability of the grid and will also be a protector and channel of energy in the coming days.

According to energy experts, currently 80% of the electricity produced in Iraq’s power plants is dependent on gas, and Iraq’s electricity is dependent on Iran’s gas. Now, Iraqi politicians have started cooperation with Saudi Arabia to supply part of Iraq’s electricity needs.

Also, Adil Karim, the former Iraqi Minister of Electricity, said in response to the electricity contract with Saudi Arabia: this agreement will be concluded in 3 years, 5% of Iraq’s electricity problem does not solve Referring to the long talks between Baghdad and Riyadh during the past year before the contract, the Iraqi Minister of Electricity said: “The implementation of this contract has actually started, but it will take at least two years to complete the plan to connect Saudi Arabia to Iraq.

Bahre Sakhan

The track record of Iraq-Saudi relations has had ups and downs since years ago, from the Baath regime to the time of the American military occupation and the attack of ISIS terrorists supported by Saudi Arabia. But in recent years, in parallel with the rise of Islamic resistance groups in the region and Iraq and the change in the balance of power in the world, the relations between Iraq and Saudi Arabia have political, economic and strategic interests for each of the parties. What is written today in the form of a joint memorandum between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, its implementation depends on the geopolitical conditions of the region and upcoming political developments among important regional players. We have to wait and see to what extent Saudi Arabia adheres to its economic and political commitments to Iraq in its new test.