Former Bulgarian foreign minister Nikolay Mladenov. PICTURE: Noushad Thellayil

By Joey Aguilar/Staff Reporter



The biggest challenge to the Gulf is when to act in unison on Syria, former Bulgarian foreign minister Nikolay Mladenov has said.
Mladenov was expressing his views on the role of GCC countries concerning the democratic transitions being experienced by some countries in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region during the Doha Forum yesterday.
“You can’t put your finger in boiling water without being burned. Syria is going to be the key,” he said.
Participants of the conference have earlier warned of the consequences of allowing further the bloodshed in Syria without doing anything to stop it.
“Inactivity is not a strategy. What then? The longer it takes, the worst it gets,” said Wolfgang Ischinger, chairman of the Munich Security Conference. He was echoing the call of former French prime minister Francois Fillon urging Arab countries to act in unison and put an end to the Syrian conflict.
Besides providing tangible help, Mladenov believes that GCC countries could play a huge role in preventing a worst case scenario and stopping it from spreading beyond borders.
Before posing the challenge, he highlighted their previous efforts in helping to address economic, political and other issues faced by countries in the Mena region after the Arab Spring.  
The former Bulgarian official refused to call it Arab Spring, and suggested to use “Arab Awakening” which for him was more precise.
“I don’t want to call the transition in the Arab World the Arab Spring because there seems to be something happening bad in the winter or fall,” he quipped.
On the hand, former Tunisian foreign affairs minister Rafik Abdessalam lamented that Arab countries have different positions on the issue. He described it as not homogeneous since some are afraid of the change while others have expressed full support to the cause.
Mladenov also noted that GCC countries, particularly Qatar, have been helpful especially in providing resources, cash, and economic support to various countries on issues of governance, democracy, and transparency.
Although in slow pace, he cited Qatar’s representation in pushing for various reforms at the local level. This included promoting freedom of expression, emphasising the role of women in strengthening national institutions, and the protection of human rights. “It is part of a process called Arab Awakening where people are changing.”
Like Mladenov, ambassador Nabil Fahmy, dean of Public Affairs College at the American University in Cairo, lauded Gulf States saying that their real strength lies on building a system which the people want and preserving their immunity.
“The Arab Gulf States if they look at the National Security in long term, it is in their interest to have a stable modern democratic Arab Middle East,” he said.
In establishing a new constitution and for a transition to succeed, Fahmy stressed that leaders should apply these four principles: transparency, accountability, inclusiveness and competitiveness.
“If you can’t hold anybody accountable, then the people will not feel they are stakeholders, and those in power will not feel accountable to the people, and they become less democratic,” he added.
Dr Bernardino Leon, EU Special representative for the Southern Mediterranean-Spain, has considered GCC countries as “new actors” needed to come up with concrete solutions on the issues discussed in the three-day forum.




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