00:14¡Gracias!
00:42I think the EU is one of the most important strategic partners to the GCC.
00:51It is a very historic relationship, a very important partnership that started 38 years ago.
01:01It covers almost every aspect of our lives, from political to economical to educational to cultural to investment.
01:12All aspects are included in this partnership.
01:15We have achieved so many goals and so many achievements that we feel in our life on a daily basis.
01:28Definitely the escalation in our region and the Iranian continuous attack on the GCC country brought the GCC EU into
01:41even closer relationship.
01:43I felt it and this was reflected in my discussion and dialogues here in Brussels with the different leaders in
01:55the European Parliament and in the European Commission.
01:59Also, as we speak today, the President of the Council, Mr. Costa, is in our region meeting with the leaders.
02:08Ms. Kaya Kalas was in our region a few days ago.
02:12So, this is bringing us together.
02:15We are looking at the stability and the security of the region because it is obvious to everybody that the
02:24stability in the Gulf is an important element for the international stability and security.
02:31There will be a meeting later this week, led by Paris and London, on the reopening of the Strait of
02:36Hormuz.
02:37Do you welcome that?
02:38Do they need to be more forthcoming in terms of resolving this crisis?
02:41They have played an excellent role in trying to bring this escalation to de-escalation with the international community.
02:55Everybody is trying to do their best to convince the Iranian regime to refrain from these attacks and to go
03:02back to the talks
03:03and to implement what is needed from them from the international community, especially on their nuclear program and their programs
03:12on missiles and drones
03:14and their support to proxies all over the Arab world.
03:19The EU has been consulting themselves, of course, through their Foreign Affairs Council or with us and the GCC and
03:28with other partners all over the world.
03:29Yet peace and stability in the Gulf region now seems to be hinging quite a lot on talks led by
03:37the U.S.
03:38You do have a role, I know, but you are not directly involved in those talks in Islamabad, for example.
03:44Do you trust the U.S. to negotiate on your behalf?
03:47We maintain an excellent relationship with the United States.
03:51It's also a strategic partnership.
03:54We have a discussion with them about this issue and many other issues.
04:00We know that Iran has to implement everything that is asked of her in order to achieve this success for
04:10the negotiations.
04:11We hope that not only in the escalation in our region, but in all over the world, that everybody uses
04:19discussion and dialogue and negotiation to solve problems,
04:23not the use of force, not implementing sanctions or whatsoever.
04:28This is where we need to go to using dialogue.
04:32At the same time now, we're seeing the U.S. blockade some Iranian ports.
04:37And is that useful, helpful in that context and in those efforts, those diplomatic efforts you've just described?
04:43Well, Iran is the one who started blocking the Strait of Hormuz.
04:48Not anybody else.
04:50This was open for centuries.
04:54And nobody has used it as a weapon or as a tool or as a card in their hand to
05:01gain some geopolitical wins.
05:05Iran started this.
05:07Iran should be the one responsible for taking all the effect that comes back from its policies.
05:15Nobody has done this.
05:17The region has seen many wars before, many conflicts.
05:21The Strait of Hormuz was never used.
05:24They should be the one responsible for taking the blame.
05:28I'd like to ask you how this experience, these seven weeks of conflict we've seen, have maybe changed the way
05:34that the members of the GCC think about security.
05:37Do you think there's been an inflection point here?
05:40And do you think there'll be more work on, for example, partnerships with countries like Ukraine to bolster the region's
05:47defense?
05:48There are many, many lessons learned from this conflict.
05:52And I can categorize them into two parts.
05:57The first part is, the first lesson learned is how do we achieve our GCC integration that we've been working
06:06on since 1981 when the GCC was started.
06:10What do we need to do more economically, security, military?
06:15We have an economical treaty that we have signed with each other.
06:19We have a defense treaty that we have signed with each other.
06:23But we still also need to work more to even come closer with each other.
06:27The second lesson learned that we have learned and we need to even work more on is to upgrade our
06:35partnerships with many of our true and good friends, such as, for example, the EU.
06:41How do we need to strengthen our partnerships?
06:45What aspects should we concentrate on?
06:48How do we look at our partnerships, the one we have?
06:51Do we need new partnerships?
06:53Do we need to open another channels?
06:54These are the lessons learned that we are trying to work on.
06:59Could that lead to some kind of NATO-inspired, NATO-style military alliance in the Gulf, for example?
07:06The hypotheticals are many.
07:09And there are so many examples one can learn from.
07:12As I told you earlier, we have our defense treaty, which is a very solid and strong one.
07:18We just need to know how to even strengthen ourselves from a military and security aspect.
07:26Very briefly, I want to ask you about Lebanon, because obviously what happens there has kind of a spillover effect
07:31on the region as well.
07:32And we did see direct talks between the Israelis and the Lebanese, the first in decades yesterday.
07:39How hopeful are you that that could lead to a solution?
07:44And do you trust that Israel will respect any kind of settlement that could be struck?
07:51Because it seems that Lebanon was not included in that two-week ceasefire that's currently in.
07:55Well, in Lebanon, the GCC efforts in Lebanon are extremely huge.
08:01And the Lebanese themselves do really appreciate our honest and straightforward engagement with them and our development programs for them.
08:11All of the GCC development funds and arms do work in Lebanon with many projects.
08:18That's number one.
08:19Number two, we believe that the current government in Lebanon and the president are working very hard to bring their
08:28country back
08:28and to gather all illegal weapons that Hezbollah has.
08:34And we call for that.
08:36And we hope to see the weapons in the arms of the right institution in Lebanon, which is the army.
08:45Not any group can collect hundreds and thousands of weapons.
08:50And we hope that the talks that is led by the United States reach a stage where the Lebanese people
08:56don't feel pressured,
08:57don't feel that they were forced to do something they don't want to do.
09:02It has to be a win-win deal for everybody, especially for the Lebanese people.
09:07There are estimates that the seven weeks of this war have set back the economies of the Gulf nations.
09:15One UN estimate says by a year.
09:18This is clearly a big challenge, and especially with the Strait of Hormuz remaining effectively closed.
09:26What needs to happen, in your view now, for the recovery to really start happening?
09:31Well, the IMF and its last report before, obviously, the attacks, the barbaric attacks of Iran on the GCC countries
09:40have estimated growth for all GCC more than 4%.
09:46And we were hopeful, each country had its own plans, each country had its own programs, diversification of economies, strong
09:56presence in the international markets.
09:58For example, the GCC countries control 33% of all the international foreign investment with more than 3 trillion U
10:10.S. dollars.
10:10So this is the kind of strong economy that we have, which is very resilient.
10:17Of course, we were affected, but we are dealing with it with our best knowledge, with the best programs.
10:23The IMF meeting now in the U.S. have severely cut that growth forecast.
10:28So just to close, finally, the White House has, in fact, suggested that the Gulf countries should help pay for
10:34the costs of the war.
10:36What do you make of those statements?
10:37And finally, what needs to happen now for this recovery in the region to really happen?
10:42Are you calling for a peace settlement, an extended ceasefire?
10:46What do you think is the realistic way forward?
10:47Well, our relationship, as I told you earlier, is very strong with the United States.
10:53Any message that we need to exchange with each other, we do it in our discussion, in our continuous discussion.
11:03Two days ago, I held a very wonderful telephone conversation with Deputy Secretary Lando of the United States.
11:13We talk about all the issues.
11:15We talk about all the matters.
11:20The side that should take care of the costs is the one that caused all this damage,
11:26is the one that was the reason behind the setback that the region is going through now.
11:33The arrangement in the region has to be within the region.
11:37Any engagement has to be involving everybody in the GCC and other players
11:43in order to achieve that long-lasting stability and peace and security that we all are eager to achieve.
11:53Your Excellency, thank you for your time.
11:55Thank you so much.
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11:59For more information, visit www.fema.org.
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