The emerging Saudi-Turkey-Pakistan alliance, the GSI, and America's Mediterranean story
A week ago the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement. The new defense pact has many in the region and in Washington scratching their heads, wondering what its goals are, whether it will trigger regional realignment, and what new risks it raises in an already volatile region where we’ve seen geopolitical rivalries deepen - whether it’s Pakistan’s rivalry with India, Saudi Arabia’s relations with the UAE, or Turkey’s continued provocations and threats against Greece, Cyprus, and Israel.
Beyond the security dimensions of this pact, the economic questions it raises may be more important. This new pact is increasingly seen as undermining US supported projects in which both Greece and Cyprus have invested politically, notably the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC).
This comes at a time when Congress is looking to bolster the Eastern Mediterranean’s role as a strategic link between India, the Middle East, and Europe. Just this week, a bipartisan group of Congressmen once again stressed the importance of IMEC for US interests in the region, emphasizing the significance of projects like the Great Sea Interconnector (GSI).
Beyond Congress, we saw a major development when it came to the GSI earlier this month as months of negotiations between Athens and Paris wrapped up with the French investment group Meridiam acquiring a majority stake in the project. Athens hopes the deal will give both a financial and diplomatic boost to the GSI, which has seen Turkey try to obstruct its progress.
These latest moves in the Eastern Mediterranean once again remind us why the region remains critical for global developments, and, more importantly, for US interests. This is a story that we’ve seen time and again, and as we celebrate America’s 250 anniversary, we can’t ignore the integral role the Mediterranean has played in shaping this story.
Experts Jonathan Schanzer, Vassilis Nedos, and Ian Lesser join Thanos Davelis as we break down all of these issues.
A little more info on our guests:
Jonathan Schanzer is executive director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Vassilis Nedos is Kathimerini’s diplomatic and defense editor.
Ian Lesser is a Distinguished Fellow and Advisor to the president at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, and a Senior Fellow at the Policy Center for the New South.
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