General Charles de Gaulle would always have his aides fetch maps for him whenever he wanted to explain to a guest his position on an important international issue. To the illustrious French president and others of his generation, concrete geopolitical perspective spoke volumes to international relations.
You only need to glance at a map to appreciate the close relationship that gave rise to the Saudi-Egyptian Coordination Council. Geography has situated the two countries on opposite banks of the Red Sea, between Asia and Africa, through which 15 per cent of global trade between East and West passes, together with a good proportion of these two countries’ own relations with Europe. The map of the region also shows us how Egyptian and Saudi lands come together at the Strait of Tiran, where boats have travelled back and forth not only to convey religious pilgrims but also for trade as well as social and cultural exchange.
The Gulf of Aqaba has been a geographic landmark throughout history. Harking back to earlier times, when the Hejaz Railway connected the Arab East with the Arab West, Egypt has resurrected the railway line between Al-Ferdan on the Suez Canal and Arish, preparatory to several high-speed railway projects, the first of which is being constructed from Taba at the tip of the Gulf to Arish. Saudi Arabia, for its part, is implementing plans to link the cardinal directions of its geography more closely. Particularly exciting in that regard is the development projects in AlUla in the northwestern Arabian Peninsula and how those appear to be reaching out to the major national project in northeastern Egypt, namely the comprehensive development of the Sinai Peninsula.
During the past ten years Saudi Arabia and Egypt have historically translated their geopolitical realities into future-facing horizons requiring high levels of institutional coordination, as their respective 2030 Visions for comprehensive development proceed to fundamentally transform the geographies of both countries. Within little over a decade, the inhabited area of Egypt doubled from seven to 15 per cent of its territory. For the first time in their millennia-long history, Egyptians are moving away from the overcrowded banks of the Nile to the coasts of the Mediterranean and Red Sea, and the gulfs of Aqaba and Suez, and to the shores of 14 Egyptian lakes. Similarly, in Saudi Arabia, urban development is penetrating two million square kilometres between the Arabian Gulf and the Red Sea. Gleaming modern cities are sprouting up and being connected to others at opposite ends of that vast terrain. Such transformations have brought these countries closer together, as is reflected in their intense and rich interactions. However, these relations and their fruits must be safeguarded against bureaucracy and red tape, on the one hand, and against regional and international intrigue on the other. This is where institutional coordination comes in, to keep the relationship smooth and ensure political convergence at the summit level and economic and strategic effectiveness at the operational level.
The space of this column does not permit a review of the many different types and levels of interaction and exchange between the two countries. The point is that this is a multidimensional relationship bringing the eastern and western shores of the Red Sea closer together. Its development is a product of the progress both sides are making in their internal development. Safeguarding all this requires stability and, hence, combatting upheaval and sources of instability in the region. Much of what we see around us today originated in the earthquakes this region has experienced since the so-called Arab Spring, which bequeathed an abundance of civil strife and warfare, more undermining of the Arab national state and, recently, the great explosion surrounding the festering wound of the Palestinian question.
Amidst the upheaval and uncertainty, the Arab world from the Atlantic to the Gulf is looking to the Egyptian-Saudi connection to soberly and rationally rise to the challenge of protecting the Arab state from the adventurism and impetuousness that puts the fates of people and their societies at grave risk. A lot of thinking and planning will need to emerge from the current crises and predicaments. In this context, Riyadh had taken a major first step with its initiative to form a global alliance consisting of the members of the Arab League, the Islamic Conference Organisation and the EU to push for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. After all, the only solution to the Palestinian question and the Israeli question at the same time is an independent Palestinian state that coexists alongside an Israeli state integrated into the region. This alliance may be the first practical translation of the Arab Peace Initiative whose ink has nearly faded in more than two decades since its launch.
Against this regional backdrop, the Saudi-Egyptian Coordination Council must overcome two types of challenges. The first should be quite manageable as it entails deepening Egyptian-Saudi relations and protecting them from types of risks, generally borne of folly, which seeks to drive the two countries apart. The second type emanates from the surrounding region which is teeming with open and suppressed conflict and filled with so much seething hatred the fires can be easily reignited if ever they are put out. History has shown that even this might be possible. At the very least, the aim requires all the thought and effort it merits.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 31 October, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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