A Tale of Two Middle Easts. By Adeel Malik*

Higher oil prices, by softening budget constraints for energy producers in the Middle East and North Africa, may reduce the incentive for major economic reforms. But the region’s oil importers, facing renewed risks to social and political stability from rising costs, must contend with much greater challenges. LONDON – The soaring commodity prices affecting developing countri

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THE CURSE OF NATURAL RESOURCES, QUALITY OF INSTITUTIONS, AND ECONOMIC GROWTH: THE CASE OF MENA COUNTRIES. By Ahmed Hussein Naser *

There is a big debate among economists, why are the resource-rich economies growing slower than resource-poor economies? Which is making this puzzle more difficult, there are two  groups of resources-rich abundance countries one group grow more than other ones. For instance, the Arabic Gulf, Nigeria, and Venezuela are growing slower than Botswanan, Norway, and Australia, but bo

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The ABC Agreement from Iraq’s perspective* By Barik Schuber

Introduction Economic cooperation aimed at gradual integration between Iraq and other Arab countries is highly desirable from Iraq’s perspective. In 2021, the leaders of Iraq, Egypt, and Jordan held their fourth summit in Bagdad to further the new endeavor for economic cooperation and integration, the ABC Agreement. This section of the report evaluates the new initiative

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Amman-Baghdad-Cairo (ABC) Agreement: A new path for economic integration

On Wednesday, September 7th from 11:00 am - 12:00 pm ET, the Atlantic Council’s empowerME Initiative and Iraq Initiative will host a virtual event to release a report on the Amman-Baghdad-Cairo (ABC) Agreement, which assesses the outcomes of recent summits between Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan focusing on trilateral agreements aimed at deepening economic integration. The report prese

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Biden Has ‘Only Bad Options’ for Bringing Down Oil Prices. By Clifford Krauss

The president’s trip to Saudi Arabia is unlikely to reduce oil and gasoline prices, and it is not clear that anything else he might do would work, either. HOUSTON — When President Biden meets Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Saudi Arabia, he will be following in the footsteps of presidents like Jimmy Carter, who flew to Tehran in 1977 to exchange toasts with the shah of I

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