Peace and economic squeeze in the Gulf

Peace and economic squeeze in the Gulf

For the rest of the world, 2020 was mainly the year of the coronavirus pandemic and its implications, but for the Gulf region it was about more than that.

The negative economic impacts of the pandemic, coupled with weak oil prices, pushed long-awaited reforms forward in most of the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). Yet, it was not only an economic squeeze, as the region also witnessed the disappearance of two veteran leaders: sultan Qaboos Bin Said of Oman and sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad, the emir of Kuwait. It was also the "year of peace,“ as dubbed by many moderates who support peace prospects in Palestine.

However, the most important feature of the year, though this was not so much in the news, was the GCC's shift in policy between the three regional players of Iran, Israel and Turkey. Core to that shift were Saudi-Emirati relations, which shape the region on matters ranging from the Qatar crisis to the war in Yemen and beyond.

Despite the fact that the GCC countries have huge wealth accumulated through decades of oil and gas exports, the economic downturn resulting from the coronavirus pandemic has not spared the region. Its economic