Hoshyar Zebari
Minister of Foreign Affairs, Iraq
Mr Chipman, ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, I am delighted to be here with you again at this Manama Dialogue. I think this gives us an opportunity to explain, brief and update you on where Iraq is on all these regional security arrangements, stabilisation of the country and its significant role in the region as a whole. I will speak from an Iraqi perspective, but before that let me thank the host country, the Kingdom of Bahrain and my good friend Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed for having us here in this great hospitality.
From an Iraqi perspective, what are the threats to the Gulf security in a geo-economic context and how can we deal with them? To answer the first question, one can list the usual suspects: transnational terrorists and criminal groups, political extremism (religious or otherwise), stress to the environment (such as global warming, pollution or, an issue we are affected by in Iraq, a change in the nature or magnitude of sweet water flow into the head of the Gulf), heightened regional competition for food security and all the economic ills one can think of: lack of employment opportunities for a growing, huge population, large economic disparities within populations, sudden recessions and, for economies so dependent on the export of hydrocarbons, sudden changes in the price of oil. Many of these points were mentioned by our friend Sheikh Muhammad yesterday in his analytical overview of the threats facing the GCC. The answer to the second question, of how to address these threats, is equally obvious: collective and coordinated action, confidence-building measures and internal reforms, when needed. However, these are headlines that need elaboration. We will need to take action on all levels, between governments and within countries, because the security and internal stability of one country affects the stability and security of all. Let me illustrate this by discussing Iraq's impact on the security of the Gulf.
We all know how negative it has been during the last half of the 20th century, beginning in the late 1960s, when Iraq began a downward spiral that allowed an increasingly small group of people to take control of the state. That literal ownership of the country, isolating it from its surrounding environment under the Ba'ath party, Iraq became oppressive internally and a factor of aggression externally, and we turned into a source of instability for the whole region. We all know the results: three wars, casualties exceeding a million and the national treasuries wasted. The damage done to the region by the Ba'ath party is exceeded only by the damage it did to Iraq itself.
What is less well known and bears remembering is the positive impact Iraq had on the Gulf before that dark period. Before then, Iraq's leadership maintained good relations with its neighbours. Domestically, Iraq flourished culturally and economically, thanks to the benefits of generalised education, institution-building and economic development accumulated over just two decades. During the 1950s, it became a regional trendsetter. Students from the Gulf came to Baghdad to study at its university. Iraq was a net agriculture exporter and contributed to the Gulf's supply of regional food staples.
What about today? We are now working hard to return Iraq to the stability and prosperity it enjoyed before its downward spiral, so that it can play the role we want it to play in promoting stability, security and prosperity in the Gulf. The old regime is gone, even though its remnants can still commit atrocities that grab headlines. However, it left us a country destroyed. Over the last few years we have been engaged in rebuilding it politically, institutionally and economically at an accelerated pace. This truly is the second founding of the Iraqi state. Even if our transformation is not complete, we have already contributed to the stability of the region.
Firstly, our neighbours can rest assured that Iraq will no longer be a source of aggression. This is mandated by our constitution. We enjoy particularly good and warm relations with our non-Arab neighbours, Turkey and Iran. With Turkey, we have developed excellent working procedures to address terrorist activities. Our good relations with Iran can be used to reduce regional tensions – because of these good relations, to quote a Der Spiegel article, 'Of all the possible countries, it was beleaguered Iraq that, in 2007, has managed to bring the US and Iran to the negotiating table.'
Working under the conditions you know, we have acquired a set of skills that may seem contradictory at first but that are needed today. Regarding security, Iraq's special operations forces have developed a remarkable degree of expertise in combating terrorist and armed insurgents. They are key elements in expanding security in Iraq. Iraq's armed forces are ready to assume their responsibility as the US reduces its military presence in Iraq. Since the signing of the Status of Forces Agreement of the withdrawal between Iraq and the US forces, there has been a smooth process of transformation and implementation of this agreement in good faith by both the US and by the Iraqi forces. Since then, there have not been many incidents or infringements of the agreement that has been signed. However, from now until 2011 is a long time, and we still believe there are certain political, security and economic responsibilities to help to support the Iraqi security forces to build their capacity and their training.
I can reassure you that, even after the US's final withdrawal, there will be no security vacuum to be filled by any external players, regional or otherwise. When the US departs Iraq, the Iraqi forces and leaders are capable of filling that vacuum and leading their country to more peace and stability.
Another fact that has emerged is that it is now clear that the coercive, strong model of governance will not work in Iraq. We need a government that represents all of Iraqi's constituency fairly. As you have noticed recently, the Iraqi leaders made a remarkable achievement by agreeing on the electoral law after so many discussions, debates and failures. At the end of the day, they have proved to the world that they can work together, reach consensus and make concessions to each other. This law will establish elections on 7 March 2010 to elect a new government, representative of the people.
Politically, we have just set the stage for a third national election, scheduled to take place on 7 March, which the Electoral Commission will oversee. This election is the most critical and important because its outcome will determine Iraq's future, fate and course for years to come, and may affect regional balances one way or another.
Economically, progress has been slow, but interest in doing business and investing in Iraq is growing. We are signing agreements with governors to promote and protect investments in Iraq, and with major companies to increase our oil production and export capacity. European ministers and trade delegations are visiting Baghdad. European and Asian countries are increasing their diplomatic and economic presence in Iraq. Our neighbours, Iran and Turkey, are fully engaged in Iraq in many, many sectors. Not so long ago, foreign visitors to Baghdad were few and far between, but now we feel as if people are competing to engage with us, with our neighbours Turkey and Iran well ahead of the others, and particularly of the GCC. Due to their vastly greater levels of engagement, it is these two regional powers that have the greatest level of influence and reach the broadest audience in Iraq, while the presence of our Arab brothers is hardly felt. We would like to rectify this equilibrium, but not by reducing either Iran or Turkey's engagement. We need greater engagement by the GCC and other brotherly Arab countries. There has been some progress. Egypt, for instance, has been in the forefront of embracing Iraq, re-establishing its diplomatic presence, and engaging at all levels with Iraq: economically, politically, in terms of security, and recently we have signed dozens of agreements and memorandums of understanding between the two governments. Also, a number of the GCC countries have moved positively to re-establish their embassies and engage in some investment activities and air flights. Gulf Air, for instance, is now flying directly from Manama to Baghdad, and will soon fly to Irbil and also perhaps Najaf. These are all encouraging trends for Iraq's reintegration in the region.
However, this is insufficient and much more needs to be done by Iraq and by the GCC. For our part, we will very soon appoint ambassadors to represent us in all the capitals of the Gulf. Their mandates will be to help strengthen our ties with the GCC. Iraq is a Gulf country and we must work together to reintegrate it fully with the Gulf. We must work together to promote better trade and investment to strengthen our economies; better security cooperation to combat the threat of terrorism; better policy coordination to defend the interests of our region internationally. We listened carefully to the debate about the naming of the Gulf, whether it is the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Gulf or the Gulf of Arab. In fact, we found out that it used to be called the Gulf of Basra.
Thank you very much.
