EU- Gulf Cooperation Council: Opening remarks by High Representative Josep Borrell at the Joint Ministerial Council
European External Action Service (EEAS)
10.10.2023
Muscat, 10/10/2023
EEAS Press Team
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Many thanks, Dear Minister [of Foreign Affairs of Oman, Sayyid Al Busaidi] and Secretary-General [of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Jassem Al Budaiwi].
Ministers, Excellencies, it is a great privilege to co-chair this 27th meeting of the Joint Council and discuss with you the significance of our partnership for the prosperity and stability of our respective regions and the profound impact it can have on the international stage at that moment, at that troubled moment.
I am particularly proud of the very good attendance of my fellow Ministers from the European Union Member States: which is a clear signal of the importance that the European Union attaches to its privileged partnership with you, the Gulf Cooperation Council, and its Members States.
We meet in this format in the Gulf region after many years, maybe too many years. The last time the Joint Cooperation Council took place in the region was in Doha in 2015 - 8 years ago. I want to thank the Omani Presidency, dear Minister, also on behalf of my fellow Ministers, for the warm and generous welcome in this fantastic location. Let me also thank the Gulf Cooperation [Council] Secretariat for the very good cooperation in the organisation of this meeting, and for identifying concrete outcomes for the main points of our agenda.
Though we have met many times already, now we are meeting in the middle of a terrible crisis, and we should face it, and you should try to understand what does that mean and what can we do in order to solve it. Those days have been tragic moments in the history of the Middle East. What has been unfolding since Saturday morning is shocking, for the suffering that this attack caused and is causing to innocent civilians, and the tragic impact it will have on the possibility of the two peoples to live side by side in peace and security.
I spoke to the Israeli Foreign Minister, Eli Cohen, to express the solidarity of the European Union, our condemnation of violence and terror, and expressed the need on the answer to respect International Humanitarian Law, and to prevent more civilian lives from being lost.
I also spoke to the Palestinian Prime Minister [Mohammad] Shtayyeh to ask the Palestinian Authority - that has not to be confused with Hamas and other terrorist organisations - to contribute to immediate cessation of hostilities and promote the interest of the Palestinian people and the aspiration of the whole region to security and stability.
When we say that we have to prevent more civilian lives from being lost, it should not be a rhetoric statement that goes without continuation. It has to be a clear request to everybody.
I also spoke to many in the Gulf countries and other partners in the region.
And I think that the priority now is to stop the violence, to de-escalate, to protect civilians and the release of all hostages.
The balance of these days is awful, unbearable. Over 900 Israelis and we do not know, maybe 700 Palestinians - but the number is growing by the hour - have been killed, in addition to thousands of injured on both sides.
The scale of the aggression took everyone by surprise, even though we were always aware, and vocal about the fact that moving forward without peace, or any political horizon was not sustainable. And that to make peace between Israel and the Arab states was necessary and good, but it cannot substitute making peace with the Palestinians.
That is precisely why together with the League of Arab States, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, we started a joint initiative to help to revitalise the two-State solution on 18 September with the 'Peace Day Effort'. Yes, because we need to look for the solution to the Palestinian issue. We cannot believe that it could be encapsulated and frozen and forgotten. The problem is there, and it requires a solution. If there is not a two-State solution, then which is the alternative solution, if any? And these tragic events maybe [are] a wake-up call for the international community to remember that this problem is still unsolved. And we have to engage and try to solve it, to avoid the repetition of what has happened these days.
But this small and humble effort that we undertook together with our Arab friends cannot replace a real negotiation process between the parties. We need a real push for peace. We need to recalibrate what we said at the United Nations meeting. It is not at the haze of the problem today, we need to do more and quicker. We all need to engage actively, in a persistent and creative manner to move beyond the current deadlock. The conflict will not go away, not disappear. And it will only get worse with time.
Though the peace looks very remote today - much more remote than some days ago - and even the prospects for peace negotiations look dim at this point, it remains the only way to achieve a long-term solution that brings peace and security to both peoples. The European Union still believes that the way forward remains the two state-solution - as difficult as it might be, because we cannot imagine another one. We are keen to work with our key partners to that end and build on what we started in New York last month. Maybe these tragic events, and so many lives lost, may be a wakeup call for the international community to face this problem and to engage really to look for a solution to it.
Dear ministers, dear Secretary General, with this thoughts in our minds, and I'm sure this will take quite a long part of our discussions today, because our discussion today cannot be business as usual. As if nothing had happened. With these thoughts in mind, we must deal with the current crisis today and work more closely together. Seeing us divided is exactly what Hamas and other terrorist organisations want. We must resist polarisation. The support of our Arab friends in stopping violence is vital. And in this regard, for instance by passing messages to Hamas, as well as to Israel in order to prevent the crises from spiraling out of control and embracing the whole region.
We must seize the opportunity that today's meeting presents. Today we have a date with history - if I may say - this is not an ordinary meeting. Today we have a date with history, and an opportunity to explore ways to do what we can to defuse the ongoing crisis and look beyond the current day and try to project our efforts in a future in order to look for a solution that prevents this happens again.
One year after the adoption of our strategy for the Gulf, dear members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, we Europeans are here today to take stock of the progress of our cooperation but mostly to commit to work together more and in more strategic areas.
This is still more important in these times marked by evolving geopolitical dynamics that challenge the international rule-based order; on those times of fast-paced innovation that urge governments to anticipate and address legal, societal, and ethical issues arising by the application of new technologies.
I can cite how things have changed in the last two years.
The [Russian] war of aggression against Ukraine has unleashed a spiral of violence and devastation.
Across the Sahel, a series of coups is destabilizing the region, as terrorism is gaining ground. Sudan is descending into full-scale civil war and disappearing from the front pages of the newspapers and the media. Afghanistan also has disappeared, but is still there. Meanwhile, the global humanitarian system is overstrained by growing needs.
But, we have also witnessed promising developments initiated in the Gulf Region. We have welcomed the reconciliation efforts that led to an agreement between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Iran in March, and we are very pleased to see greater regional ownership of its security.
Nonetheless, the latest drone attack on a military camp at the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Yemen border that has killed three Bahraini soldiers, for which I extend our heartfelt condolences to the Kingdom of Bahrein, indicates that continued efforts are an imperative for ensuring peace and stability in the region.
We are also following with the greatest attention the consequences of the ruling by the Iraqi Supreme Federal Court on the 2012 Maritime Border Agreement with Kuwait. I had the opportunity of discussing that with the Kuwait fellow Minister. Both Iraq and Kuwait are privileged EU partners. And we want to set this issue solved. We stand ready to help and to support the territorial integrity of Kuwait.
We will have the chance to talk about this more [in] depth during our meeting, but now allow me to revert to another subject.
We, the European Union, with the full backing of its Member States, are ready to support these region-led efforts to address the security challenges in the Gulf. By finding common ground to address regional stability and combining efforts, we can yield meaningful results and contribute to a more secure and prosperous world.
This is why the endorsement today by this Joint Council of the EU-GCC Security Dialogue is paramount to extend our partnership into the realms of security and stability.
We are ready to make such dialogue quickly operational and hold the first meeting in Riyadh in January 2024.
We promote de-escalation policy for the maritime security in the Gulf and especially in the Strait of Hormuz, and the Arabian Sea.
We want to make a stronger work deepening the synergies between the two maritime operations AGENOR and ATALANTA, yesterday I had the opportunity to visit here, one of the warships of this mission and thank you very much to Oman for its support.
Yes, we need to explore avenues for regional maritime security cooperation with the Gulf, and our bilateral maritime security cooperation has to increase.
Ministers, we have a lot to discuss on our Joint Action Programme that we endorsed at last year Council. We have to talk about our trade relations which remain central in our partnership.
We have to further stimulate and increase business cooperation.
We are keen to play a pivotal role in the realization of this visionary initiative and I believe is the greatest scope for cooperation with the GCC, as a natural bridge between the three continents.
We can use our investment capabilities of the EU and the GCC countries to effectively engage the private sector to unlock the capital, needed in order to face the great challenges of climate change and development.
The discussion of today will dedicate particular attention to concrete joint actions on climate change and green transition, in preparation of a successful COP28, and to humanitarian aid with a view to join efforts for a more effective humanitarian aid system.
We will talk about it. We will talk about humanitarian support. I am very glad to count on the presence of the Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, who yesterday immediately said that our humanitarian support to the Palestinian people will not stop. And I thank you for saying that publicly.
Finally, let me stress the importance of fostering people-to-people contacts, and for that we need a mutual understanding and respect for diversity. To fight against islamophobia, but also palestinophobia, to fight against any kind of phobia based on ethnical reasons. And I have to regret that some events in Europe that have created some embarrassing situations, and I present our excuses for that. Believe me, there is not islamophobia in European societies.
And now, I leave the floor to the EU Special Representative for the Gulf - former Italian Minister Luigi Di Maio. I will have to ask you to shorten your intervention to two minutes, dear Luigi. We have appointed him for the first time as European Union Special Representative for the Gulf. And as part of your mandate, dear Luigi, is to engage with you to support dialogue and long-term solutions to the stability of the region. Then the floor will be for the Spanish Secretary of State for Foreign and Global Affairs Ms. Ángeles Moreno Bau and will continue our meeting.
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