Rebuild the Gulf

VIP Lounge

Nearly 50 German enterprises, constituting one of the strongest national contingents, participated at the "Rebuild Iraq" Fair. As part of the accompanying program, a meeting of interest to the German enterprises with 14 Iraqi Ministers, covering all portfolios, took place Monday, May 8, "in the German VIP Lounge". On Tuesday, there was "opportunity for the Iraqi visitors to introduce themselves and concretize their specific needs for German products".[1] The German embassy in Baghdad, which in mid-April had dispatched an embassy counselor to Berlin for the preparatory seminar given to representatives of the interested enterprises, is closely involved in the composition of the accompanying program. The diplomat familiarized the guests with the "current (...) Situation in the Irak".[2]

Ransom Funds

In Iraq, which is the Middle Eastern country, where Germany has a traditional economic expansion emphasis, the war is intensifying daily. The previous weekend alone, fifty people were killed. With the shooting down of a British army helicopter in Basra, combat is being intensified now also in the south of the country, which had been considered relatively safe in comparison to Baghdad and its outskirts. This escalation has led to the exposure of the German contribution to the western policy of war and occupation, which has shifted also Germany into the cross-hairs of resistance forces. Thus also Germans, in the meantime, have become kidnap victims, in an effort to pressure the German government to cease its activities in Iraq.[3] Berlin is not excluding further kidnappings of German business representatives. Two weeks ago, an SPD MP made the demand that German enterprises create a "ransom fund", to be able to facilitate the freeing of hostages. A growing number of attacks on Germans is not confined to Iraq alone. They are occurring throughout the entire region being targeted by the west in the Middle East offensive, particularly in Afghanistan.[4] Also two weeks ago demonstrators burned German flags in Pakistan - as a consequence of the German stand in the controversy around anti-Islamic caricatures.[5]

Restructuring

Parallel to their efforts to strengthen the position of German enterprises in Iraq - in coordination with the occupation forces - the German government is intensifying the business exchange with other states bordering on the Persian Gulf. During the first weekend in May, the Economics Minister Michael Glos visited Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, with the intention of strengthening trade relations "to all sectors".[6] As can be learned from industrial circles, the Gulf States, are currently using the increase in the price of oil, to restructure "their national economies and prepare for the post-peak-oil period".[7] It is seen as advantageous in Berlin, to win as large a portion as possible of the forthcoming billion-dollar business, for Germany to be strategically implanted in this resource rich area around the Persian Gulf. Here Berlin is competing not only with the United States, whose policy of occupation rule is increasingly seen even in Washington as hardly maintainable, but also with the states of Eastern Asia, that draw an important part of their energy resources from this area.

All Around the Gulf

For a new advantage over the competition, the German government is particularly banking on a free trade agreement, being negotiated since the 1990s, between the EU and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).[8] As one hears in Abu Dhabi, this agreement would allow trade between Germany and the United Arab Emirates to clearly expand. It has already nearly doubled over the past four years. The Emirates, in the meantime, have become the most important customer of German exports among the Arab language countries. Over the past year, German exports to this Gulf State have reached a volume of 4.8 billion Euros, thereby exceeding German exports to India.[9] Trade relations to Kuwait would also benefit from a free trade agreement. Kuwait is Germany's fourth largest export market in the Arab world, with exports valuing 1.2 billion Euros. Berlin's plans also include all Persian Gulf neighboring states. The efforts to win ground in the GCC states is accompanied by a stabilization of the German position in Iran [10] as well as by Berlin's recent attempts to develop independent influence in the Iraqi wartime economy [11].

Terminal Point

In the German grand design, projects around infrastructure, aimed at creating trade alternatives to maritime transport routes through the Straits of Hormuz, play an important role. A freight railway connection from Abu Dhabi to the Indian Ocean, is being considered, which would first of all, render trade with the United Arab Emirates independent of a possible blockade of the straits. It could also be extended to Kuwait. This area is becoming "the crucial commercial trans-shipment center in the Middle East", explains Martin Bay, chairman of the Near and Middle East Trade Association (NuMOV).[12] Bay is simultaneously a chairman of the German Railways Building Projects GmbH, which organizes the German Railways AG infrastructure projects and is applying for the franchise to build the transportation network on the Arab Peninsula. Bay's NuMOV colleague on the board of directors, Hartmut Mehdorn, director of the German Railways Company accompanied the Minister of Economy, Michael Glos, on his trip to Abu Dhabi and carried out negotiations concerning the possibilities of obtaining contracts. Both of these NuMOV board members have been engaged, for some time, in expanding company activity to Turkey, with the extension of the Turkish railroad network from 10.000 to 13,000 kilometers of track.[13] The railway network at the Persian Gulf is considered to be the provisional geographical terminal point of the company's southeast expansion.

[1] Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie: Delegationsreise zur Messe "Rebuild Iraq"
[2] Bundesverband der Deutschen Industrie: Einladung zum Vorbereitungsseminar "Rebuild Iraq" am 11. April 2006 von 12.00 bis 15.00 Uhr
[3] see also No Case for Berlin, Rückzugsgebiet and Lügen
[4] see also Numerous additional deaths and Hundert Prozent
[5] see also On the Ruins of War and Trotzdem
[6] Bundeswirtschaftsminister Glos besucht Kuwait, Dubai und Abu Dhabi mit Wirtschaftsdelegation; Pressemitteilung des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und Technologie 04.05.2006
[7] Golfstaaten entwickeln sich zu Zukunftsmärkten für die deutsche Wirtschaft; Pressemitteilung des Bundesverbandes der Deutschen Industrie 25.04.2006
[8] Mitgliedsstaaten des GCC sind Kuwait, Bahrain, Saudi-Arabien, Katar, Oman und die Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate.
[9] see also Positiver Weg, Großer Aufschwung and Deutsche Tradition
[10] see also Zwei Feuer, Eingliederung and Ähnlichkeiten
[11] see also Doing business in hell, Erste Erfolge and Goldgrube
[12] Deutsche Bahn bewirbt sich um Strecke am Golf; Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 08.05.2006
[13] see also Die neue Bagdad-Bahn and German Industrial Standard (DIN)