00:00We are obviously here at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha.
00:03So much to talk about, a lot of excitement.
00:06But maybe let's just start off with the fact that President Trump was in the Gulf region last week.
00:11What is that going to do to some of the conversations that we're going to be having here?
00:16And also, how has it set the tone for what these Gulf countries are trying to achieve?
00:23Good morning, Jumana.
00:24Well, President Trump's visit to the region had two highlights or had two main focal points.
00:30One was obviously investments, and the other was the U.S.'s engagement with Iran or security of the region in general.
00:38On the former, President Trump had basically got what he wanted.
00:43He scored big wins when it comes to his own domestic audience.
00:48The Gulf countries in the region committed more than $3 trillion of investments into the U.S.
00:55The numbers are big.
00:57The details are kind of scarce, but it almost doesn't matter for Trump.
01:01He needed big wins during his first overseas trip in his second term in office, and he got it.
01:08On the latter, on the security issue, I think the dynamics are a bit more tricky.
01:14We have seen that the U.S. and Iran have been in indirect talks to diffuse the nuclear problem, if we can call it that.
01:23And President Trump has essentially said that he's going to resolve this issue one way or another.
01:29And what it essentially means is that either the talks will work or, in his own words, something bad will happen in Iran.
01:36Again, in terms of the security and the relationship with Iran, I think the key issue last week was the fact that President Trump announced a lifting of sanctions on Syria,
01:49which is clearly linked to that country's ability to remove foreign fighters from its soil,
01:54effectively blocking the land link between Iran and some non-state actors in the region, such as Hezbollah in Lebanon.
02:02That is going to be key to watch going forward, and that is clearly an important issue for the Gulf states,
02:09because if diplomats go quiet, something else will happen, and that something else is possibly a military operation,
02:16which obviously Middle East Gulf producers wouldn't want to see,
02:19given the fact that just a tiny waterway is dividing them from Iran.
02:26Yeah. Well, thanks for the geopolitical setup.
02:28Obviously, some major breakthroughs on that front last week.
02:31But, Honor, let's also talk about some of the economic pledges that these Gulf countries have put together last week.
02:38Lots of headline numbers flying around, one trillion here, one trillion there.
02:42How much of that is going to frame the discussions that we have this week as well,
02:47in terms of what exactly these Gulf countries are going to be pledging,
02:51in terms of actual money that goes into the U.S.,
02:54versus what's been signed on the ground in terms of tangible deals?
02:58Well, as you said, in Doha, the main theme at the Qatar Economic Forum will be transforming the global economy
03:07through the rest of the decade, and by extension, economies in the region.
03:10And that visit by Trump makes this a very timely discussion,
03:14because the pledges made last week by the three main Gulf oil producers,
03:20Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates,
03:22have created a new commitment for these states.
03:26And this unleashes a new power, pulling their economies in one direction,
03:31whereas the existing priorities they have, the domestic priorities,
03:35are going to be pulling their economies in the opposite direction.
03:38All these three countries have announced very ambitious and costly domestic transformation agendas
03:45that are aimed at weaning their economies off oil income.
03:50Now, this comes at a time when oil prices are already suppressed
03:53and possibly can stay there for a prolonged period of time.
03:57How does that affect their ability to live up to their promises made to President Trump last week?
04:03Trillions of dollars to be spent on everything from U.S. tech to defense technologies,
04:08aviation, and also likely foreign direct investment into the U.S.
04:12This is going to be, how this unfolds is going to be extremely tricky,
04:16and this is what people in Doha this week will probably discuss.
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