Monday, 14th October, 2024

Biden urged to swap division for consensus in Middle East

As countries in the Middle East increase cooperation to meet common challenges...


As countries in the Middle East increase cooperation to meet common challenges, US President Joe Biden needs to seek common ground with regional players to achieve stability and recovery during his landmark visit to the region-not create geopolitical divisions, analysts said.

Rasha Al Joundy, senior researcher at the Dubai Public Policy Research Center, said there is no tolerance in the region for demands to cut ties with either Russia or China.

She said China is a very important oil importer for the Gulf Cooperation Council, or GCC, and Russia is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries Plus, or OPEC+. "Saudi Arabia reached important deals with China that included knowledge transfer, a critical condition for any deal ahead of 2030 that the US is still not ready to give," she said.

Saudi Vision 2030 is a strategic framework to reduce Saudi Arabia's dependence on oil, diversify its economy, and develop public service sectors such as health, education, infrastructure, recreation and tourism.

Biden is on his first trip to the Middle East since assuming office in January last year and is flying to Saudi Arabia on Friday, where he will meet with Saudi leaders and attend a GCC summit with representatives from Egypt, Iraq and Jordan, or GCC+3, this weekend. read more 

Rasha Al Joundy

Rasha Al Joundy

Research Supervisor

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Areas of Expertise

  • Expert in the Gulf region politics,
  • Security and internal affairs and has been working on the GCC region since 2011.

Education

  • Master’s degree in International Relations and World Order at Leicester University (UK 2016).
  • Graduated from the Faculty of Law – University of Damascus in Syria in 2006

Bio

completed her master’s degree in International Relations and World Order at Leicester University (UK 2016). She graduated from the Faculty of Law – University of Damascus in Syria in 2006, and trained as a lawyer to register at Damascus bar association. She is an expert in the Gulf region politics, security and internal affairs and has been working on this region since 2011. Rasha Currently work as a senior researcher for Gulf affairs and supervise the training program at Dubai Pubic Policy Research Centre.