Together with the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP), the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS)’s Regional Programme Gulf States conducted two visits to the Gulf states for the purpose of raising awareness and soliciting ideas for an upcoming dialogue on shared geopolitical challenges between the Gulf and Europe. The first visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia took place from 13-16 May 2024, while the second visit to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) occurred from 23-26 June. The KAS-GCSP delegation included: Paul Dziatkowiec, GCSP’s Director of Mediation and Peace Support; Seraina Eldada, Senior Project Manager for Mediation and Peace Support at GCSP; Philipp Dienstbier, Director of the KAS Regional Programme Gulf States; and Nicolas Reeves, Project Manager, KAS Regional Programme Gulf States.
KAS and GCSP’s cooperation comes at a critical juncture in Gulf-European relations. Across the Arabian Peninsula, the leading powers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have begun playing more influential roles in international politics, involving themselves in mediation efforts from Russia-Ukraine to Sudan, Israel and the Palestinian Territories, Afghanistan, and Yemen. This active role in global affairs underlines the need for Europe and the West to come to the region not just to preach and propose solutions, but also – or perhaps even primarily – to listen. Accordingly, the approach that KAS and GCSP followed during their visits to Saudi Arabia and the UAE centred on understanding what interlocutors deemed to be the issues, challenges, and areas ripe for closer cooperation that a geopolitical dialogue between Europe and the GCC should discuss.
The breadth and novelty of the ideas that KAS and GCSP gathered from their Saudi and Emirati interlocutors confirmed the utility of this approach. Throughout discussions with the Policy Planning Departments of the Saudi and Emirati Ministries of Foreign Affairs, the Diplomatic Institutes and prominent think tanks in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, and the UAE’s Federal National Council, the refrain repeated by conversation partners was to focus on issues where recent developments have brought the positions of European and Gulf countries closer together, such as combatting Iran’s malign regional influence. Alternatively, topics ripe for mutually beneficial exchanges of experiences between Europe and the Gulf, such as mediation, could provide fruitful and productive avenues for dialogue.
Following the conclusion of their successful trips to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, the GCSP and the KAS Regional Programme Gulf States find themselves in the process of synthesising the ideas presented by Saudi and Emirati conversation partners. In a next step, the organisations will send their proposals for topics for the geopolitical dialogue to these interlocutors for feedback. The closed-door conference, which will convene political representatives and leading researchers from the Gulf and Europe, will take place in early November.
