May 19, 2011Obama announces trade plan for the Middle East
In his highly anticipated speech, U.S. President Barack Obama announced a trade plan with the Middle East on Thursday.
Together with the European Union, the U.S. will seek to facilitate trade in the region through “a comprehensive trade and investment partnership initiative in the Middle East and North Africa”, Obama said.
“If you take out oil exports, this region of over 400 million people exports roughly the same amount as Switzerland.”
Obama did not give any specific details about his economic initiative.
As it was previously expected, he promised to grant Egypt $1 billion (1.17 trillion Dinars) in debt forgiveness and another $1 billion in loan guarantees.
In his speech, Obama touched several issues.
He praised the recent uprisings in Arab countries, saying that “the events (…) show us that strategies of oppression and strategies of diversion will not work anymore.”
On his list of countries that are currently experiencing protests and revolutions, the U.S. key ally in the region, Saudi-Arabia, was missing.
Obama criticized Iran that publicly supports protests in other countries, but violently fights domestic opposition.
Libya’s leader Moammar Gadhafi’s time would end soon, the U.S. President said, ending “decades of provocation”.
A longer part of the speech dealt with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Obama said, “The borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states.”
Obama considered his speech to mark “a new chapter in American diplomacy”.
The U.S. president’s speech came almost two years after his famous Cairo speech. In June 2009 he addressed Muslims all over the world, promising a new beginning between the United States and the Arab world.
Although it was widely considered to be a good approach back then, people criticized the lack of concrete actions following the speech.
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