Iraqi Foreign Policy: National Interest and Regional Hubs
Al-Sharif made a number of observations on the Iraqi foreign policy, including that the Iraqi foreign policy did not benefit from the achievements made by Iraq for the national interest, for instance, the victory over ISIS. Although Iraqis have fought against ISIS, defeated them and prevented their expansion all over the world, the Iraqi foreign policy makers have failed to promote this in the international conferences held to support Iraq, including Kuwait Conference. The other observation that the lecturer made on the Iraqi foreign policy is that the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs is not based on facts on the ground in its negotiations with other states. He used an example of the Turkish PKK, saying that the problem of the PKK is a Turkish problem resulted from the inability of Turks to control their borders with Iraq, and it is not an Iraqi problem, therefore, negotiations with Turks around the mentioned party should be from this perspective.
The lecturer also addressed the internal environment impact on the foreign affairs and vice versa. In this regard, he gave the example of Iraqi-Saudi relations that, during the first years of the change after 2003, were characterized by intensity and lack of closeness by both Iraqi and Saudi sides, due to the internal tendencies of the governments of the two countries. He added that during that period, the regional environment was encouraging to dialogue, comparing to the desire for rapprochement expressed by both sides now, while the regional environment is not encouraging for a dialogue, referring to the cold war between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia, as two opposing hubs in the region.
In a regional and international context, Al-Sharif Ali clarified that Iraq must take an impartial stance whether negatively, meaning not to stand by any side, or positively, meaning to try to get along with parties and reduce tension. The neutral stance that Iraq should take comes from the deep relations that it enjoys with those involved, namely the United States on one hand and the Islamic Republic on the other hand, as both countries provide different types of support to Iraq since 2003, and both of them are indispensable.
The panel witnessed discussions and interventions by the attendees who are elite politicians, academics and scholars.