Turkey, Syria To Cooperate

After decades of enmity, Syria and Turkey have launched a strategic cooperation agreement. This month, the two neighbors signed an agreement meant that included cooperation in the defense and military sectors. The accord also saw the removal of restrictions along the border between Syria and Turkey.

“The brotherhood that exists between our people has been lifted to the political level with joint Cabinet meetings to be held between our two governments,” Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said. Officials said the government of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Erdogan regarded Syria as part of Ankara’s “zero problems with neighbors” policy.

They said Ankara and Damascus have decided to establish what was termed a high-level strategic cooperation panel.“Turkey is your second country and the people of Turkey have opened their arms to welcome you without the need for a visa,” Davutoglu said.

At a joint news conference on Sept. 17, Davutoglu and his Syrian counterpart, Walid Mualem, agreed to lift customs on trade between the two countries. They said trucks that shuttle between Syrian and Turkey would be exempt from taxes. “This is the biggest demonstration of cooperation, solidarity and mutual trust,” Mualem said.

However, Bulent Alireza, a senior researcher at the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies commented that “the increasingly close relationship with Damascus, combined with the recent strains in the relationship with Tel Aviv, seems certain to raise additional questions about a possible change of direction in Turkish foreign policy in the Middle East.”

In 2009, Syria and Turkey launched its first military exercise. The exercise took place along the border.The analysts said the Turkish military has not been enthusiastic over cooperation with Syria. Syria has long been seen by the Turkish military as a haven for the Kurdish Workers Party, which has been conducting a long time insurgency operation against the Turkish government.

Some senior Turkish officials said Syria has drafted plans to offer asylum to Kurdish Workers Party operatives. They said the Syrian offer, praised by neighboring Turkey, would demand that the PKK agents renounce violence and surrender their weapons. “Our fight against the terrorist organization would be affected a great deal if some of these Syrians quit the organization and climb down the mountain,” Turkish Chief of Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug said.

In a briefing on Sept. 22, Basbug said the PKK contained an estimated 1,500 Syrian fighters, or more than one-third of the total insurgency force. He said Syrian members of the PKK were based in Iraq’s Kandil mountains.

The Syrian offer was announced by President Bashar Assad in mid-September. Assad said Syrian members of PKK could be allowed to return home if they renounce membership in the insurgency group.

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Lebanon establishes Arab Energy Club

A group of Lebanese analysts, specialists and academics have founded the Arab Energy Club, a Beirut forum for advanced research on energy issues.

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Sustainable growth in Tunisia

Tunisia had spent around 0.6 percent of its GDP in supporting the companies affected by the global financial crisis, Mr Mohamed Ghannouchi , Tunisia's prime minister, said during Emerging Markets Summit in London organized by Economist.

At the beginning of the current year, Tunisia set up a strategy to cope with the international crisis. As part of this vision, measures have been taken to help the national enterprises to preserve the growth of the Tunisian economy, Mr Ghannouchi told Global Arab Network in an interview on the sideline of the summit.

Mr Ghannouchi added: “one more important programme of investments established in order to develop modern motorway, wide railway network, construct 2 power stations of 400 MW each, build an oil refinery in south of the country, launch a phosphate plant and create a deep-waters seaport.

All these investments were spent with the purpose of boosting local demand and offer better business opportunities. The prime minister assured that his government is working to integrate Tunisia's economy into global market by implementing a programme with support of the European Union’s fund, World Bank and the African Development Bank.

The aims of this programme are to make sure that all businesses are able to reduce transaction costs, optimise foreign trade measures and improve access to financial market. Moreover, Tunisia empowered business environment to attract foreign direct investments (FDI) to its expanding sectors such as information and communication technologies, health, car industry, and electronics.

Mr Ghannouchi told Reuters News Agency “Tunisia's growth is likely to reach 3-3.5 percent this year and at least 4 percent in 2010. Before (the global crisis) we were on a path to grow 6 percent, this year our growth will be between 3 and 3.5 percent,” "In comparison with -4.0 percent for Europe, it is still positive and encouraging," Ghannouchi said.

Tunisia was looking for growth of 4 percent in 2010, he said, but a further improvement in the global outlook would help the domestic picture. He said, "We can do even better if the world recovery is faster."

Ghannouchi said that the country was trying to diversify its exports, with more direction towards Africa and the Maghreb region, the Middle East and North Africa. Tunisia, the North African country of 10 million people, relies on exports of manufactured goods and services, mostly to the European Union.

He said the government planned to make its currency, the dinar, fully convertible. "I do hope to make sure it's converted as soon as reachable. We have made a lot of progress in that area."

Ghannouchi continued that he hoped international institutions would move fast to disburse an extra $850 billion in resources decided for the International Monetary Fund at the G20 Summit April 2009. "We hope the measures agreed in London will be implemented effectively and as soon as possible."
He said that the trade exchange forces had been seriously shaken by the international financial crisis. The recession, which strongly hit the developed countries, had found its reflection in a great decline of foreign demand and a drop of approximately 12% of the world goods and services trade, compared with a sustainable growth during the last 25 years.
Ghannouchi stressed during the conference that he would like to see closer cooperation between European Union and MENA region. He emphasized that 1% growth in the southern Mediterranean countries reflected in 0.2 percent growth in the north-bank of the Mediterranean.
The Union for the Mediterranean, a project of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, was launched last year as a platform for regular gatherings among its 43 countries, with the EU providing financial and technical support to accelerate reforms and develop closer ties. "We want the union to come into practice immediately, as strong sign, in order to establish more harmonious policies between South and North of the Mediterranean and eventually to achieve collective prosperity," Ghannouchi concluded.

Despite the global crisis, Tunisia has managed to preserve its economy, maintain the growth and retain the lead among the North African countries, according to the World Economic Forum Report 2009/2010. These achievements place Tunisia among the emerging countries as a model of success.

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Egypt Spots Flaws in Wiping Out Pigs

It is unlikely anyone has ever come to this city and commented on how clean the streets are. But this litter-strewn metropolis is now wrestling with a garbage problem so severe it has managed to incite its weary residents and command the attention of the president.

“The problem is clear in the streets,” said Haitham Kamal, a spokesman for the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs. “There is a strict and intensive effort now from the state to address this issue.”

But the crisis should not have come as a surprise. When the government killed all the pigs in Egypt this spring — in what public health experts said was a misguided attempt to combat swine flu — it was warned the city would be overwhelmed with trash. The pigs used to eat tons of organic waste. Now the pigs are gone and the rotting food piles up on the streets of middle-class neighborhoods like Heliopolis and in the poor streets of communities like Imbaba.

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US Defense Department eyes missile sale to Turkey

The US Defense Department has notified Congress that it plans to sell Turkey the most advanced version of its Patriot air-defense missile system, in a deal worth as much as 7.8 billion dollars, AFP reported on Monday. The move is designed to bolster the security of Turkey, a US ally and the only NATO member to have a land border with Iran.
The Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency said that the sale would include 72 PAC-3 interceptor missiles and a host of related hardware. The sale was essential for Turkey to maintain “a strong and ready self-defense capability that will contribute to an acceptable military balance in the area,” the agency said in a statement to lawmakers.

The notification comes amid rising tensions between Washington and Tehran over Iran’s nuclear program, which the U.S. suspects has a military aim.

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Morocco needs UNHCR to overcome status quo in Tindouf

Rabat - Morocco has requested the input of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to change the status quo in the Polisario-run Tindouf camps. The remarks were given Friday by Foreign Minister, Taib Fassi Fihri at a joint press conference with the high commissioner for refugees, Antonio Guterres, on a visit in the north African country.

"We need the UNHCR, not only to carry out the humanitarian mandate of the agency, but also to help us find a lasting solution" to the situation in the Tindouf camps, Fassi Fihri told reporters. The Algerian-backed Polisario separatists have been holding thousands of Moroccan civilians in the desert Tindouf camps on the Algerian soil for over three decades now.

The FM said the real situation in the camps is not know by anyone. He denounced the human rights breaches in the territory, and the impossibility for the people held there to leave and join Morocco, their homeland. The Moroccan official pinned the political and legal responsibility of this persisting situation on the country's eastern neighbour, Algeria, saying the situation is "unbearable" from the humanitarian viewpoint.

He insisted on the importance Morocco attaches to conducting a census in the camps in order to identify the native Sahrawi and enable the UNHCR to play its institutional role of opening dialogue with the Tindouf populations so they can express their wish to stay there, come to Morocco or go elsewhere.

For his part, Guterres underlined that "the habitual practice of census conducted in the framework of the humanitarian operations has nothing to do with the political considerations." It is rather "a tool for the humanitarian assistance." He noted that Algeria has requested augmenting the aid given to the camps, but the UNHCR says that this increase hinges upon counting the camps' populations. He deplored that "Algeria did not accept conducting this census," insisting that the UN refugee agency has not changed its estimation on the number of people living in the territory.

Guterres announced that his proposal of opening a land route for family exchange visits (between Tindouf and Morocco's southern province) was accepted by all the parties, saying that 8,000 people have benefited from the exchange programme, and another 42,000 are registered to take part. With the present rhythm, it would be impossible to carry out this programme through air lines, he said.

The UN official voiced satisfaction over what he termed as a "qualitative leap" in the UNHCR-Morocco relations, voicing hope that the north African country "would, as part of this cooperation, put in place a legal framework for asylum," and to create an institution for issuing the status of refugee on its territory."

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Turkey, Armenia agree to establish diplomatic ties

Turkey and Armenia agreed Monday to establish diplomat relations, overcoming a seemingly intractable rift that dates to the early 20th century and was marked by massacres of Armenians under Ottoman rule.

The neighboring countries, which agreed to restart negotiations after mediation from Switzerland, would be setting up and developing relations for the first time, Turkish Foreign Ministry spokesman Burak Ozugergin said. He said the upcoming talks should last about six weeks, he said. The issue is a major stumbling block to Turkey's aspirations to join the European Union and has strained ties with the United States, with both pressuring Turkey to recognize the killings as genocide.

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