Kuwait has renewed cooperation with China to revive the huge Gulf Port project, which aims to be a major commercial center at the northern end of the Gulf, according to the agency.Bloomberg“American.
The project’s revival came about 10 years after construction stopped – when it was only partially completed – as it was affected by Iraq’s ambitious plan to create a $17 billion road and railway network to boost trade in the region, in which Turkey, Qatar and the UAE also participate, apart from Kuwait, according to the agency. .
This week, a Chinese delegation traveled to the oil-rich Gulf state and met with Kuwaiti officials to hold “in-depth technical and field discussions” about the construction of Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port and other projects, according to the Kuwait News Agency.
“It is clear that if Kuwait does not move forward, it will fall behind. This is already happening,” Kristen Smith Diwan, a resident researcher at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington, told Bloomberg.
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Although most Gulf states are working to diversify their economies away from oil and gas, energy sales still represent more than 90 percent of Kuwait’s revenues.
Although it is a major ally of the United States in the Middle East and one of the richest countries in the world thanks to its oil reserves, Kuwait’s development goals have long suffered as a result of political imbalance, as was recently confirmed by the Emir’s suspension of parliament.
On May 10, the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, ordered the dissolution of Parliament and the suspension of some articles of the Constitution for a period not exceeding 4 years.
The prince said in a speech broadcast on Kuwait TV at the time: “I will never allow democracy to be exploited to destroy the state.”
Kuwait TV reported that the powers of the National Assembly would be assumed by the Emir and the Council of Ministers.
The revival of the port plan indicates that “the Emir of Kuwait plans to use Parliament’s suspension to move forward with projects that are stalled by disagreements between lawmakers and ministers,” according to “Bloomberg.”
Hurdles
There are still many obstacles that the project may face, according to Bloomberg, as the Gulf already includes many major ports, including those in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE.
The economies of Syria and Iran – which the port was initially supposed to serve – have also been damaged by war and sanctions, limiting the benefits of any trade corridor with them.
Diwan said: “Kuwait is focusing its strategic planning on the port and city project in the north, which would encourage trade-led development. (Kuwait) hopes to consolidate its leadership in the northern Gulf, and this will be impossible if the maritime issue with Iraq is not resolved.”
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Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port constitutes direct competition to the nearby Iraqi port of Al-Faw, as Baghdad canceled a maritime agreement that allowed Kuwait access through the Khor Abdullah corridor, causing a dispute between the two countries.
Kuwaiti Minister of Public Works, Noura Al-Mashaan, visited the construction site of the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port project on Boubyan Island, in an official indication that the Gulf state is committed to the project, which Iraq rejects.
The Ministry of Public Works said in a statement on Tuesday that Al-Mashaan visited the Mubarak Port site, accompanied by a technical delegation of experts and engineers specialized in mega projects from China and Kuwait, in addition to the Chinese ambassador to Kuwait.
The visit came, according to For the statementIn implementation of the memorandum of understanding related to the establishment of the Mubarak Port project, signed between Kuwait and China during the visit of the Emir of the country, Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, to Beijing last September.
Kuwait did not officially announce the resumption of construction work in Mubarak Port, located on Bubiyan Island near Iraq, a project that Baghdad has always rejected.
But newspaper “The socketShe says that the Mubarak Port project “is at the forefront of the Kuwaiti scene developmentally and economically with the start of the actual resumption of its implementation, and practical and realistic steps are being taken towards this direction, so that it will be among the development projects that Kuwait is counting on during the next stage.”
What is Mubarak Port?
In April 2011, Kuwait laid the foundation stone for the construction of the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port, whose cost is estimated at about $1.1 billion, on Boubyan Island, and its construction will be completed in 2016, noting that the announcement of this huge project was first issued in 2007.
This engagement sparked anger on the part of neighboring Iraq, which considers that the port construction site on Bubiyan Island will hinder its access to the waters of the Gulf, which are its only outlet to the sea.
Kuwait rejects these accusations.
In July of the same year, Baghdad officially asked Kuwait to stop work in Mubarak Port after a political controversy between the two countries, but the Gulf state officially rejected Iraq’s request.
In 2013, the two countries concluded an agreement to regulate maritime traffic in Khor Abdullah, which connects Iraq to the waters of the Gulf.
The agreement stipulates that the waters of Khor Abdullah will be divided equally between the two countries, based on UN Security Council Resolution 833 issued in 1993, which redrawn the borders in the wake of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.
Iraqis object to this agreement because they believe that it gives Kuwait the right to territorial waters deep inside Iraq, which hinders the movement of maritime trade in front of the country’s limited ports.
However, last September, the Iraqi Supreme Court decided that the Khor Abdullah Agreement, which regulates maritime navigation in the waterway separating Kuwait and Baghdad, was unconstitutional.
The court justified its decision “for violating the provisions of Article (61/Fourth) of the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq, which stipulates that the process of ratifying international treaties and agreements is regulated by a law enacted by a two-thirds majority of the members of the House of Representatives,” according to the Iraqi News Agency (INA).
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