ARAB LEAGUE- INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
News: Back in the Arab League after 12
years, Syria seeks investments
What is in the news?
●
Syria’s return to the
Arab League, with the attendance of President Bashar al-Assad at summit in
Saudi Arabia, will mainly be about symbolism.
Key takeaways from the news:
●
Syria called on Arab
countries to invest in the war-torn nation, now again a member of the Arab
League.
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The 22-member Arab League agreed earlier this month to reinstate Syria,
ending a 12-year suspension.
●
However, Western
sanctions against Syria remain in place and could prevent Arab countries from
rushing to invest in Syria - or lead to a quick release of reconstruction funds
in the war-battered country.
Why was Syria suspended?
●
Syria was suspended from
the league over Assad's brutal cracking down on mass protests against his rule
in 2011.
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The uprising quickly
turned into a civil war that killed nearly a half million people and displaced
half of the country's pre-war population of 23 million.
Normalization of bilateral relations:
●
After Saudi Arabia,
Jordan and Egypt have also renewed ties with Damascus, following normalization
efforts from the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain years ago.
●
Still, Kuwait, Morocco,
and Qatar, remain opposed to normalizing relations with Syria and Qatar
continues to be a key backer of Syrian rebel groups fighting Assad.
Arab league:
●
Arab League, also called League of Arab States (LAS), is an
intergovernmental pan-Arab organization of all Arab states in the Middle East
and North Africa.
●
It was formally
established in 1945 after the
adoption of 'Alexandria protocol'.
●
Members:
○ Currently,
there are 22 Arab countries:
Algeria, Bahrain, Comoros, Djibouti, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon,
Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia,
Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen.
●
Observer
states:
○ Armenia,
Brazil, Eritrea, India and
Venezuela.
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Objective:
○ It
aims to strengthen and coordinate the
political, cultural, economic, and social programs of its members and to
mediate disputes among them or between them and third parties.
○ Agreement
on joint defense and economic
cooperation also committed the signatories to coordination of military defense measures.
○ Draw
closer the relations between member
states and coordinate collaboration between them, to safeguard their
independence and sovereignty.
●
Structure:
○ The
League consists of the Council, the
Special Ministerial Committees, the General-Secretariat and the Specialized
Agencies.
○ The
Council is the principal political
organ, consisting of foreign ministers of all the member-countries.
●
Submit:
○ It
meets twice a year to supervise the
execution of agreements between the member-states, set guidelines for
cooperation.