5 Top Points

1. The GCC and the UK plan to sign a free trade agreement by the end of the year.
2. Dubai’s Crown Prince was appointed as UAE’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, while the UAE Foreign Minister was named as Deputy Prime Minister.
3. Saudi Arabia will host the world’s first Olympic E-Sports Games in 2025.
4. The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation made a major offshore discovery, equivalent to the country’s three-year oil production output.
5. Oman’s Foreign Minister held a phone call with Hamas’ Ismail Haniyeh.

‘Round and About the Gulf’

Kingdom of Bahrain
Tuesday, 10 July—King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa issued a royal decree appointing Brigadier General Bassam Mohammed Khamis Al-Maraj as the new President of the National Intelligence Agency from 1 August 2024. He will also be promoted to the rank of Major General.

State of Kuwait
Sunday, 14 July—Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) made a major hydrocarbon discovery in the Al-Nokhatha field east of the Kuwaiti Failaka island, with reserves estimated to be equivalent to the country’s three-year production output. The preliminary estimates of the reserves are approximately 2.1 billion barrels of light oil and 5.1 trillion standard cubic feet of gas, corresponding to 3.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent.

Sultanate of Oman
Monday, 15 July—The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, appointed
Oman’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Mohammed Awadh Al-Hassan, to be the new
Special Representative of the UN Secretary General for Iraq and Head of the UN Assistance
Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

State of Qatar
Monday, 15 July—The United Nations and Qatar signed a supplementary agreement to open the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) in Doha. The agreement was signed by the Director of Department of International Organisations at the Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hanouf bint Abdulrahman Al-Thani, and UNOCHA’s Representative in Qatar, Ahmed Marii. The office would coordinate humanitarian action between Qatar and UNOCHA and other local and international actors. It came after Qatar inaugurated the UN House in Lusail in 2023 and the first Qatar-UNOCHA High-Level Strategic Dialogue held in Doha in May 2024.

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Friday, 12 July—The International Olympic Committee (IOC) partnered with the National Olympic Committee of Saudi Arabia to host the inaugural Olympic E-Sports Games 2025 in Saudi Arabia. It came shortly after the IOC Executive Board established the Olympic E-Sports Games.

Tuesday, 16 July—The Saudi Space Agency said that Saudi Arabia and the United States signed a strategic cooperation agreement focused on the exploration and peaceful utilisation of outer space in a bid to enhance US-Saudi space and scientific exploration cooperation.

United Arab Emirates
Sunday, 14 July—The Crown Prince of Dubai, Hamdan bin Mohammed Al-Maktoum, was appointed as UAE’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, and Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan as Deputy Prime Minister in addition to his Foreign Minister portfolio as part of a broader cabinet reshuffle. Additionally, the move included a major restructuring of the UAE’s education system and several ministerial appointments. Abdulrahman Al-Awar was announced as acting Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in addition to his duties as Minister of Emiratisation and Human Resources; Ahmad Belhoul was appointed as Minister of Sports and Chancellor of the Higher Colleges of Technology in addition to his duties as Chairman of the UAE Space Agency; and Alia Abdullah Al-Mazrouei was named Minister of State for Entrepreneurship.

Monday, 15 July—The UAE released a joint statement together with Benin, Chad, Comoros, Guinea Bissau, Jordan, Kenya, Mauritania, Morocco, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone and Uganda on the alarming food security situation and the risk of famine in Sudan, which leaves around 25.6 million people in high levels of acute food insecurity and 14 areas at risk of famine.

EU Corner

Saturday, 13 July—Marwan Fouad Kamal, Undersecretary of Bahrain’s Ministry of Youth Affairs, received Osama Abdullah Al-Jowder, Representative of the EU’s Erasmus+ Programme to discuss ways to enhance cooperation as well as the educational and training opportunities offered by Erasmus+ for Bahraini students at universities and institutes in the EU.

Monday, 15 July—The Deputy Secretary-General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) for Political Affairs, Enrique Mora, and the UAE Assistant Minister for Political Affairs and Special Envoy to the EU, Lana Nusseibeh, co-chaired the 3rd EU-UAE High-level Political Dialogue in Brussels. The Dialogue mainly focused on ways to deepen the EU-UAE partnership and issues such as human rights, countering money laundering and terrorism financing, sanctions circumvention, the wars in Gaza and Ukraine, the prospects of the Middle East Peace Process, and the situation in Lebanon, Yemen, the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa. On the occasion, Nusseibeh also held talks with the EU Special Representative for Human Rights, Olof Skoog, and the European Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, on scaling up humanitarian assistance in Gaza and addressing the crises in Afghanistan and Sudan. She also co-chaired the 2nd round of political consultations with Belgium and met with Belgian Foreign Minister, Hadja Lahbib.

Monday, 15 July—Luigi Di Maio, the EU’s Special Representative for the Gulf, held meetings with several officials in Bahrain, notably Abdullah bin Adel Fakhro, Bahrain’s Minister of Industry and Commerce, Foreign Minister, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, and the Executive Director of The King Hamad Global Centre for Peaceful Coexistence, Abdulla Isa Almanai. The talks focused on ways to boost EU-Bahrain trade and investment relations, deepen the EU-GCC strategic partnership and promote regional security, and cooperation in peaceful coexistence, religious freedom and education.

Monday, 15 July—The Council of the EU extended until 27 July 2025 the sanctions regime against Iran in view of Tehran’s military support for Russia’s war against Ukraine and for armed groups and entities in the Middle East and the Red Sea region, which currently includes 12 persons and 9 entities.

Tuesday, 16 July—The EU condemned the 15 July attack that killed five people and wounded 28 at the Imam Ali Mosque in Oman’s Muscat Governorate.

Key Official Visits& Contacts

Wednesday, 10 July—Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Transport and Logistic Services, Saleh bin Nasser Al-Jasser, and Romania’s Minister of Transport, Infrastructure, and Communications, Sorin-Mihai Grindeanu, signed a Memorandum of Understanding to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the field of logistics services, during their meeting in Romania.

Wednesday, 10 July—Qatar’s Minister of State for International Cooperation at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lolwah bint Rashid Al-Khater, was in Sarajevo, where she separately met with the Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Denis Becirovic, the Minister of Human Rights and Refugees, Sevlid Hortic, and the Grand Mufti, Husein Kavazov. The talks centred on enhancing bilateral cooperation in economy, tourism, culture, education and development, as well as the situation in the Gaza Strip. Al-Khater also participated in a commemoration of the 29th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide and an event ‘From the Balkans to Gaza: A Critical Examination of Genocide’ alongside Slovenia’s President, Nataša Pirc Musar, with whom she held separate talks regarding the situation in the Middle East and the return of kidnapped Ukrainian children.

Wednesday, 10 July—UAE’s Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Finance, Younis Haji Al-Khoori, led the UAE’s delegation to the first bilateral Strategic Financial Dialogue with Poland, held in Warsaw, aiming to strengthen bilateral cooperation on various financial and economic issues and explore opportunities for collaboration in renewable energy and banking.

Wednesday, 10 July—The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Secretary-General, Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, met with the new UK Secretary of State for Business and Trade, Jonathan Reynolds, in London, to discuss the importance of finalising the UK-GCC free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations. According to Al-Budaiwi, the UK and the GCC will sign the agreement before the end of 2024.

Wednesday, 10 July—Bahrain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, and Kuwait’s Foreign Minister, Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya, participated in the celebration of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) on the sidelines of the NATO Summit in Washington, DC, which marked also the 20th anniversary of the Istanbul Cooperation Initiative with the GCC countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE). Al-Zayani met with US Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, who expressed US appreciation for Bahrain’s continued support against Houthi attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea. At the Summit, NATO leaders agreed to appoint a Special Representative for the Southern Neighbourhood and to establish a NATO liaison office in Jordan, and recognised that Iran’s destabilising actions are affecting Euro-Atlantic security.

Thursday, 11 July—Saudi Minister of Energy, Abdulaziz bin Salman Al-Saud, met in Riyadh with Germany’s State Secretary and Special Envoy for International Climate Action at the Federal Foreign Office, Jennifer Lee Morgan. During the meeting, they explored the prospects of Saudi-German cooperation in clean energy and technologies and reviewed Riyadh’s efforts in renewable energy, clean energy technologies, clean hydrogen, energy efficiency and emissions management. 

Friday, 12 July—Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, received the Advisor to the French President for the Middle East and North Africa, Anne-Claire Legendre, in Riyadh. During the meeting, they reviewed Saudi-French relations, ways to strengthen them in various fields, and the latest regional developments, particularly in the Gaza Strip. 

Saturday, 13 July—The delegation of UAE’s Federal National Council (FNC), led by Ali Rashid Al-Nuaimi, Chairman of the FNC’s Defence, Interior and Foreign Affairs Committee, participated in the 10th BRICS Parliamentary Forum in Saint Petersburg, Russia. At the Forum, Iran’s Parliament Speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, called for abandoning the US dollar in business relations between the BRICS countries.

Saturday, 13 July—Oman’s Foreign Minister, Badr Al-Busaidi, received a phone call from Ismail Haniyeh, Head of Hamas’ Political Bureau. They discussed the latest developments in the Gaza Strip, notably the recent Israeli airstrike in Khan Younis, which targeted Hamas’ military leaders, as well as the status of the ceasefire and hostage release negotiations sponsored by the US in coordination with Qatar and Egypt.

Sunday, 14 July—Doha hosted the first Qatar-India Joint Working Group on Trade aiming to boost bilateral economic ties, address trade barriers and explore cooperation in key sectors. India is Doha’s second-largest trading partner, while Qatar is India’s largest liquified natural gas (LNG) supplier, accounting for 48% of its global imports.

Sunday, 14 July—Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister, Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud, travelled to Türkiye, where he met with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, his Turkish counterpart, Hakan Fidan, and others, ahead of the 2nd Saudi-Turkish Coordination Council to be held in Riyadh. The talks focused on strengthening bilateral relations and economic cooperation as well as the developments in Gaza. Al-Saud and Fidan signed an amended protocol for the minutes establishing the Saudi-Turkish Coordination Council.

Monday, 15 July—Kuwait and Interpol discussed ways to boost cooperation in security and information exchange during a meeting between Kuwait’s First Deputy Prime Minister, Defence Minister and Interior Minister, Fahad Yusuf Al-Sabah, and the President of Interpol, Ahmed Naser Al-Raisi.