Al-Faw port: Iraqi insistence and Kuwaiti envy

Al-Faw port: Iraqi insistence and Kuwaiti envy

6-3-2024

Information/report
The geographical location of Iraq changed the movement of land and sea transport, not only in the region but in the entire world, and everyone in Iraq realized that there is a great treasure owned by this country that will generate a huge budget that exceeds the oil budget that it owns.

This makes Iraq a commercial center in the heart of the world and connects its continents through a small geographical area called “Al-Faw”. Iraq is currently building the largest port to accommodate goods and cargo coming from the far east to the far west through this region.

This made Iraq’s neighboring countries fear the port of Al-Faw, and they tried to have a share of it by extending railways or opening land roads to participate in it. There are other countries that tried to obstruct “Iraq’s livelihood” with some envy, such as Kuwait, which wants to build a port to strangle the port of Al-Faw.

It seems that America is one of the biggest supporters of Kuwait in its endeavors, through its media outlets that warn against the Kuwaiti Mubarak Port, and this is what was reported by the American “Bloomberg” agency, that the State of Kuwait is working to cooperate with China to revive the huge Gulf port project known as Mubarak Port, which aims To be a major commercial center at the northern end of the Gulf.

The revival of the project came about 10 years after construction stopped – when it was only partially completed – as it was affected by Iraq’s ambitious plan to create a $17 billion road and railway network to boost trade in the region, in which Turkey, Qatar and the UAE also participate, apart from Kuwait, according to the agency. .

A Chinese delegation visited the Gulf state and met with Kuwaiti officials to hold “in-depth technical and field discussions” about the construction of Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port and other projects, according to what the Kuwait News Agency reported.

“It is clear that if Kuwait does not move forward, it will fall behind,” said Christine Smith Diwan, resident researcher at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. “This is already happening.”

Although it is a major ally of the United States in the Middle East and one of the richest countries in the world thanks to its oil reserves, Kuwait’s development goals have long suffered as a result of political imbalance, as was recently confirmed by the Emir’s suspension of Parliament.

The revival of the port plan indicates that “the Emir of Kuwait plans to use Parliament’s suspension to move forward with projects that are stalled by disagreements between lawmakers and ministers,” according to “Bloomberg.”

There are still many obstacles that the project may face, according to Bloomberg, as the Gulf already includes many major ports, including those in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the UAE.

Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port constitutes direct competition to the nearby Iraqi port of Al-Faw, as Baghdad canceled a maritime agreement that allowed Kuwait access through the Khor Abdullah corridor.

Kuwaiti Minister of Public Works, Noura Al-Mashaan, visited the construction site of the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port project on Boubyan Island, in an official indication that the Gulf state is committed to the project, which Iraq rejects.

The Ministry of Public Works said in a statement that Al-Mashaan visited the Mubarak Port site, accompanied by a technical delegation of experts and engineers specialized in mega projects from China and Kuwait, in addition to the Chinese ambassador to Kuwait.

The visit came, according to the statement, in implementation of the memorandum of understanding related to the establishment of the Mubarak Port project, signed between Kuwait and China during the visit of the Emir of the country, Sheikh Meshaal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, to Beijing last September.

Kuwait did not officially announce the resumption of construction work in Mubarak Port, located on Bubiyan Island near Iraq, a project that Baghdad has always rejected.

But Al-Qabas newspaper says that the Mubarak Port project “is at the forefront of the Kuwaiti scene developmentally and economically with the start of the actual resumption of its implementation, and practical and realistic steps are being taken towards this direction, so that it will be among the development projects that Kuwait is counting on during the next stage.”

In April 2011, Kuwait laid the foundation stone for the construction of the Mubarak Al-Kabeer Port, whose cost is estimated at about $1.1 billion, on Boubyan Island, and its construction will be completed in 2016, noting that the announcement of this huge project was first issued in 2007.

In July of the same year, Baghdad officially asked Kuwait to stop work in Mubarak Port after a political controversy between the two countries, but the Gulf state officially rejected Iraq’s request.

In 2013, the two countries concluded an agreement to regulate maritime traffic in Khor Abdullah, which connects Iraq to the waters of the Gulf.

The agreement stipulates that the waters of Khor Abdullah will be divided equally between the two countries, based on UN Security Council Resolution 833 issued in 1993, which redrawn the borders in the wake of the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

Iraqis object to this agreement because they believe that it gives Kuwait the right to territorial waters deep inside Iraq, which hinders the movement of maritime trade in front of the country’s limited ports.
However, last September, the Iraqi Supreme Court decided that the Khor Abdullah Agreement, which regulates maritime traffic in the waterway separating Kuwait and Baghdad, was unconstitutional.
The court justified its decision “for violating the provisions of Article (61/Fourth) of the Constitution of the Republic of Iraq, which stipulated that the ratification process International treaties and agreements shall be regulated by a law enacted by a two-thirds majority of the members of the House of Representatives.
So… the valid question that can be asked is, what is the impact of Mubarak’s port on Al-Faw port? Will there be Mubarak’s ability to stifle Al-Faw and lose part of his capabilities?
This was answered by the head of the Parliamentary Transport and Communications Committee, Zahra Al-Bajari, who downplayed the importance of Mubarak Port, which Kuwait is building to compete with the large Al-Faw port.
Al-Bajari told Al-Maalouma, “The Kuwaiti Mubarak Port will not be economically viable unless Iraq goes towards opening a railway access to this port, noting that Kuwait is trying to harm Iraq by resuming work on the port project.”

She explained, “The Kuwaiti Minister of Works approached the Chinese side to implement the agreement concluded between Kuwait and Beijing to complete the port.”
She added, “The government is serious about completing the large Al-Faw port project to serve Iraq economically,” pointing out that “Mubarak Port will not be useful as Iraq continues to work on Al-Faw Port.”
She explained, “If Iraq insists on not opening a railway road with the Kuwaiti port of Mubarak, then this port will have no economic feasibility at all, as Kuwait is trying to find a land route to its port to deliver goods to other countries, and this route can only be through Iraq.” “.
For his part, the head of the organizing body of the Belt and Road Popular Movement, Hussein Al-Karaawi, said that the American side does not want Iraq to complete the large Al-Faw port.
Al-Karaawi told Al-Maalouma, “The Al-Faw port project will have a major positive impact on the Iraqi economy, and this is something that intersects with the American will.”
He called for “being proactive and being responsible to end the American presence in Iraq in implementation of the House of Representatives’ decision in 2020.”
He stressed, “American pressure continues on Iraq in order to stop the wheel of its economy and mortgage its capabilities to it, to control Iraqi resources however it wants.”
He accused “the American side of trying to disrupt large, strategic projects such as the large Al-Faw port project.”

almaalomah.me