By Hussein Ahmed Al-Sarhan
Hussein.ahmed@uokerbala.edu.iq
October 6, 2024
In April 2024, Iraq, Turkey, the United of Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar signed the Memorandum of Cooperation for the Development Road Project in Baghdad. It will create new roads and railway lines, and it include a campaign to rehabilitate the highways in preparation for the start of the implementation.
The Development Road Project is a major regional strategic project. It was signed with the presence of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after months of preparations and negotiations between Iraq and Turkey and negotiations with both the UAE and Qatar. The project expresses a shared vision of the participating countries that developing of economic relations in the region supports the peace, increases the interconnectedness of the interests of the peoples of the region, and increases communication away from historical conflicts.
The project’s developments and the acceleration of its stages express a great desire to strengthen these economic relations. The Director General of the Company for Railways at the Ministry of Transport, Younis Al-Kaabi, confirmed ” that there are discussions in Turkey with the World Bank to finance the project” . However, the agreement has been not to reached yet on financing the project. It seems that the Iraqi government has failed to obtain the required funding. Al-Kaabi confirmed in statement to the Iraqi News Agency: ” There is a trend to hold a ministerial meeting between the countries that signed the memorandum to develop practical steps to implement the development road project,” . He added that ” the memorandum included articles stipulates that the doors are open to all countries wishing to join, and that Iraq is open to all countries to join the project “.
Al – Kaabi added that “the design company has achieved advanced rates in the initial designs of the project, as the percentage of railway designs exceeded 76%, the highway reached nearly 66%, and soil and topographical tests exceeded 90% “. He added, ” Iraq is about to contract with the consulting company (Oliver Wyman) after the authorization of the Council of Ministers, and the company will give global credibility to the project and working to attract investors and provide the financial map for implementing the project”.
However, any economic agreement is welcomed to all countries in the region, but this agreement seems good and important, but it faces challenges in implementation despite its members’ emphasis on its importance. The challenges are great at the local Iraqi level or at the regional level, which raises concerns that the agreement will not turn into a comprehensive trade agreement that enhances economic relations in the region.
The regional Obstacles is that Saudi Arabia and Bahrain are not members of the agreement, although these countries are on the road of development and are seeking, like Iraq, to enhance their economic indicators and reduce the contribution of the oil sector to the gross domestic product and thus to public revenues. On the other hand, with regard to Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Saudi Arabia have established a solid economic relations and witnessed development in recent years.
Iraq and Saudi Arabia working to develop their economic relations after defeat of ISIS in 2017. Their efforts led to the establishment of a framework for economic and investment cooperation between the two countries, which is the Iraqi-Saudi Coordination Council. There are many facilities in terms of air transport and travel for individuals from both countries. Saudi Arabia and Turkey also resumed their relations after the killing of journalist (Jamal Khashoggi), which led to tension between the two countries. Both need stronger economic relations, and the strong relations serve the peace in the middle east because they are regionally active countries. This is consistent with the Iraqi government’s vision towards the situations in the region. Saudi Arabia, according to the 2030 vision, will be effective in supporting regional investments because KSA has one of the largest sovereign funds in the world. It needs to expand its foreign investments and plans to extend its investments to Iraq.
For Kuwait, Iraqi-Kuwaiti relations need a new framework for economic and political relations that removes the problems of the past and increases the cohesion of the Iraqi and Kuwaiti peoples. This problem can be overcome as long as Iraq has announced the possibility of other countries joining the project. Therefore, an invitation should be extended to both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to join the project and push them to investments in the project.
In addition, another regional challenge is related with the political and security behavior of Iran in the Middle East. It is on the front of geopolitical competition with Turkey in Iraq and Syria. Therefore, it can work to employ its proxies in to obstruct the project.
Qatar and the UAE signed the project memorandum, and they are two Gulf states that are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, but their relations witnessed tension after the Gulf crisis. The tension ended without confirming that tension would not return, not only between the two states, but between the members (GCC states). Iran’s role may be an obstacle to project implementation.
Another challenge is the fragile security and the armed groups in Iraq and the imposition of tributes, which have created an environment that repels investments. Therefore, Iraqi government must to establish the rule of law in by enhancing security and activating the judiciary and its independence. This faces major challenges related to corruption, inefficiency and the influence of political blocs. This is an important requirement for the success of the project in Iraq and the region, especially after inviting international companies to invest in industrial and construction sectors in the project.
Authorities and institutions in Iraq suffer from weak coordination and cooperation between them, which creates a challenge for the implementation of the project. Therefore, there must be legislation, regulatory frameworks, and clear economic policies that support the project and make it a strategic priority by providing funding and financial allocations to repair the infrastructure and services along the areas through which the project passes.
