Egypt on Thursday hosted the presidents of Turkey and Iran at a summit of eight Muslim-majority countries in its new Administrative Capital where President Abdel Fattah El Sisi met them separately for talks on the turmoil gripping the Middle East since late last year.
The summit of the so-called D-8 nations took place at a time when both Iran and Turkey are involved in the regional upheavals that began with the outbreak of the Gaza war 14 months ago, indicating a growing role by non-Arab nations in the affairs of the region.
Iranian-backed militant group Hamas has been weakened after 14 months of war against Israel in Gaza. Lebanon's Hezbollah, Iran's largest proxy militia in the region, has also been hit hard by Israel before a ceasefire reached late last month stopped their war.
Turkey, meanwhile, is believed to be behind the Islamist-led opposition that toppled Syrian president Bashar Al Assad's regime, which had been propped up by Tehran, Russia and Hezbollah during a 13-year civil war.
“The weight and influence of the Arab Middle East is waning and the centres of power in the region are shifting to non-Arab players like Turkey, Iran and Israel,” said Anis Salem, a retired career diplomat from Egypt who is now with the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, a Cairo think tank.
The summit saw Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran's Masoud Pezeshkian meeting for the first time since Mr Al Assad was ousted on December 8.
Mr Pezeshkian, who arrived in Cairo late on Wednesday, is the first Iranian president to visit Egypt since Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who went in 2013. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi visited Egypt in October, while his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty, travelled to Tehran in July to attend Mr Pezeshkian's inauguration.
“The two leaders exchanged views on regional developments and ways to restore peace in the region,” an Egyptian presidential statement said of Mr El Sisi's meeting with Mr Pezeshkian. “The (Egyptian) president emphasised the importance of defusing regional tension and avoiding escalation,” it added without giving details.
The statement made no mention of what sources earlier said was Mr El Sisi's intention to raise the issue of attacks on Red Sea shipping by Houthi forces backed by Tehran when he meets Mr Pezeshkian on the sidelines of the summit.
The Red Sea attacks, launched in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza, have cut by half Egypt's revenue from the Suez Canal, which links the Red Sea and the Mediterranean and is a major source of foreign currency to the cash-strapped nation of 107 million.
The sources told The National that Egypt has been urging Iran to persuade the Houthis to halt their attacks on shipping but to no avail. Cairo has also been seeking guarantees that the Houthis will not make good on threats to close Bab Al Mandeb, the narrow strait at the southern mouth of the Red Sea.
Egypt and Iran have in recent years held several rounds of consultations to normalise their relations after decades of tension following the 1979 overthrow of the Shah in the Islamic revolution. However, they are yet to upgrade their diplomatic representation to ambassadorial level, reflecting lingering differences.
Cairo has repeatedly called on Iran to stay out of the affairs of Arab nations and stop arming and bankrolling non-state players across the Middle East. Now, Iran's proxies have been considerably weakened, except for the Houthis in Yemen and armed Shiite groups in Iraq.
Underlining the turmoil in the region, the D-8 summit is dedicating a special session to Gaza and Lebanon.
Besides Egypt, Turkey and Iran, the D-8 Organisation for Economic Co-operation includes Nigeria, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia. Established in 1997, the group aims to foster co-operation among member states.
A separate statement by the Egyptian presidency said Mr El Sisi's meeting with Mr Erdogan reviewed the situation in the region. “The president emphasised the necessity of safeguarding Syria's unity, independence and territorial integrity and the launching of a Syrian political process that brings together all segments of society to achieve national reconciliation.”
Mr Erdogan and the Egyptian leader have jointly masterminded the normalisation of relations between the two regional heavyweights after more than a decade of tension during which Cairo repeatedly accused Ankara of supporting militant groups across the Arab world.
For its part, Turkey was harshly critical of the overthrow in 2013 of Mohammed Morsi, a close Turkey ally whose one year as president in Egypt ended when the military, then led by Mr El Sisi, removed him from power amid street protests against his divisive rule.
The two countries, however, continue to support opposing sides in Libya's long-running conflict between an administration backed by Cairo in the eastern part of Libya and a rival government based in the capital Tripoli in the West. They both support Sudan's army in its 20-month-old civil war against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces for control of the vast Afro-Arab nation.
Sources briefed on Cairo's relations with Ankara say the two nations, while close trade partners, have also been co-operating on security issues and sharing intelligence since they thawed relations.
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ARSENAL IN 1977
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Started: April 2017
Founders: Mostafa Kandil, Ahmed Sabbah and Mahmoud Nouh
Based: Cairo, Egypt
Sector: transport
Size: 450 employees
Investment: approximately $80 million
Investors include: Dubai’s Beco Capital, US’s Endeavor Catalyst, China’s MSA, Egypt’s Sawari Ventures, Sweden’s Vostok New Ventures, Property Finder CEO Michael Lahyani
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The essentials
What: Emirates Airline Festival of Literature
When: Friday until March 9
Where: All main sessions are held in the InterContinental Dubai Festival City
Price: Sessions range from free entry to Dh125 tickets, with the exception of special events.
Hot Tip: If waiting for your book to be signed looks like it will be timeconsuming, ask the festival’s bookstore if they have pre-signed copies of the book you’re looking for. They should have a bunch from some of the festival’s biggest guest authors.
Information: www.emirateslitfest.com
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
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Investment raised: $4 million
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Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
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Women's squad: Hamda Al Shekheili, Shouq Al Dhanhani, Balqis Abdullah, Sharifa Al Namani, Asma Al Hosani, Maitha Sultan, Bashayer Al Matrooshi, Maha Al Hanaei, Shamma Al Kalbani, Haya Al Jahuri, Mahra Mahfouz, Marwa Al Hosani, Tasneem Al Jahoori and Maryam Al Amri
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Four motivational quotes from Alicia's Dubai talk
“The only thing we need is to know that we have faith. Faith and hope in our own dreams. The belief that, when we keep going we’re going to find our way. That’s all we got.”
“Sometimes we try so hard to keep things inside. We try so hard to pretend it’s not really bothering us. In some ways, that hurts us more. You don’t realise how dishonest you are with yourself sometimes, but I realised that if I spoke it, I could let it go.”
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KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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The UN General Assembly President in quotes:
YEMEN: “The developments we have seen are promising. We really hope that the parties are going to respect the agreed ceasefire. I think that the sense of really having the political will to have a peace process is vital. There is a little bit of hope and the role that the UN has played is very important.”
PALESTINE: “There is no easy fix. We need to find the political will and comply with the resolutions that we have agreed upon.”
OMAN: “It is a very important country in our system. They have a very important role to play in terms of the balance and peace process of that particular part of the world, in that their position is neutral. That is why it is very important to have a dialogue with the Omani authorities.”
REFORM OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL: “This is complicated and it requires time. It is dependent on the effort that members want to put into the process. It is a process that has been going on for 25 years. That process is slow but the issue is huge. I really hope we will see some progress during my tenure.”
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