Iraqi, Egyptian and Jordanian leaders to meet for talks amid economic pressure

The leaders of Iraq, Egypt and Jordan will hold a summit soon, Jordanian Prime Minister Bisher Al Khasawneh said on Monday amid economic pressures in the three countries.

The meeting in Egypt could help reactivate a loose alliance between Baghdad, Amman and Cairo, which has focused on improving commercial ties.

“We are coming to a three-way summit,” Mr Al Khasawneh said after meeting his Egyptian counterpart, Mostafa Madbouly, in Amman, without giving a date for the meeting.

The two men discussed “three-way mechanisms” between the Cairo, Amman and Baghdad governments, Mr Madbouly told reporters.

These will be the first top-level talks between the three countries since a brief meeting between Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi, Jordan's King Abdullah and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamad Al Sudani at an international conference to discuss Iraq, hosted on Jordan's Dead Sea shore in December.

Mr Al Sudani's predecessor, Mustafa Al Kadhimi, made it a priority to improve ties with Arab countries when he took office in May 2020, with relations having deteriorated under overtly pro-Iranian administrations.

Jordan and Iraq agree to ease visa requirements

Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia responded to Mr Al Kadhimi's suggestion that Iraq should fully rebuild relations with its Arab neighbours despite strong misgivings by Iran-backed parties in Baghdad, some of whom were openly hostile to the Gulf states. Mr Al Kadhimi also took a number of steps to rein in Iran-backed militias, who later tried to assassinate him in November 2021.

The three countries, all close allies of the US, reactivated a number of economic agreements with Iraq and increased senior-level discussions with Baghdad. In November 2020 Saudi Arabia reopened its main border crossing with Iraq after three decades of closure.

Mr Al Kadhimi, King Abdullah and Mr El Sisi met several times to co-ordinate on business and economic issues, although no breakthroughs were reported.

Upon succeeding Mr Al Kadhimi last year, Mr Al Sudani made Jordan the destination of his first foreign trip.

However, he is seen in Amman and other Arab capitals as being more influenced by Iran than his predecessor, a former intelligence chief who is well connected in Washington.

Despite Mr Al Kadhimi's efforts, business ties with Jordan continued to hit snags, with several interruptions to Iraq's 10,000 barrel-per-day crude oil exports to the country.

Iraqi oil accounts for 7 per cent of Jordan's needs.

The Jordanian economy has been stagnant for over a decade. The World Bank places the country's unemployment at around 23 per cent, with similarly stubborn levels in Iraq.

However, the Jordanian dinar has been stable for decades, in contrast with the Egyptian pound and Iraqi dinar, which have undergone sharp devaluations in the last several years.

Red Joan

Director: Trevor Nunn

Starring: Judi Dench, Sophie Cookson, Tereza Srbova

Rating: 3/5 stars

The specs

Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel

Power: 579hp

Torque: 859Nm

Transmission: Single-speed automatic

Price: From Dh825,900

On sale: Now

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If you go

The flights

There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.

The trip

Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.

The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.

Some of Darwish's last words

"They see their tomorrows slipping out of their reach. And though it seems to them that everything outside this reality is heaven, yet they do not want to go to that heaven. They stay, because they are afflicted with hope." - Mahmoud Darwish, to attendees of the Palestine Festival of Literature, 2008

His life in brief: Born in a village near Galilee, he lived in exile for most of his life and started writing poetry after high school. He was arrested several times by Israel for what were deemed to be inciteful poems. Most of his work focused on the love and yearning for his homeland, and he was regarded the Palestinian poet of resistance. Over the course of his life, he published more than 30 poetry collections and books of prose, with his work translated into more than 20 languages. Many of his poems were set to music by Arab composers, most significantly Marcel Khalife. Darwish died on August 9, 2008 after undergoing heart surgery in the United States. He was later buried in Ramallah where a shrine was erected in his honour.

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The specs

Engine: 2x201bhp AC Permanent-magnetic electric

Transmission: n/a

Power: 402bhp

Torque: 659Nm

Price estimate: Dh200,000

On sale: Q3 2022

The chef's advice

Troy Payne, head chef at Abu Dhabi’s newest healthy eatery Sanderson’s in Al Seef Resort & Spa, says singles need to change their mindset about how they approach the supermarket.

“They feel like they can’t buy one cucumber,” he says. “But I can walk into a shop – I feed two people at home – and I’ll walk into a shop and I buy one cucumber, I’ll buy one onion.”

Mr Payne asks for the sticker to be placed directly on each item, rather than face the temptation of filling one of the two-kilogram capacity plastic bags on offer.

The chef also advises singletons not get too hung up on “organic”, particularly high-priced varieties that have been flown in from far-flung locales. Local produce is often grown sustainably, and far cheaper, he says.