Dr Gargash expresses concern over cracks in global order
The UAE has benefitted from globalisation, but is concerned about the cracks in the existing global order, Dr Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the President, has said.
Dr Gargash, who is a former minister of state for foreign affairs, was speaking at a panel discussion entitled “A Tapestry of Truths: Can the Two Hemispheres Agree?” on the second day of the Raisina Dialogue in the Indian capital New Delhi on Thursday.
The Raisina Dialogue is a foreign policy event co-organised by the Indian Foreign Ministry. The panel discussion also featured India’s Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, former president of Bolivia Jorge Quiroga, Foreign Minister of the Netherlands Hanke Bruins Slot, and Tanzanian Foreign Minister January Makamba.
The talks were centred on whether the global order had weakened and if reform was needed.
Dr Gargash suggested the existing global system was outdated.
“We are already living the aches and pains of an international system that is not in sync with our current system,” he said. “If you look at vetoes that have been implemented on the Gaza file, at the vetoes that have been implemented on the Ukraine crisis, there is a problem with consensus.”
Dr Gargash said that he did not think the world would have “another San Francisco meeting”, referring to the talks that led to the creation of the UN.
“We have to understand that, in reality, the system is being eroded while our ability to introduce something new is really diminished, so we have to really think about how to deal with that.”
Dr Gargash said that the UAE was concerned “that countries our size will fall between the cracks, between what is the current system or the older system created after World War Two and about the diminishing ability of that system to regulate security, to regulate the economy”. While the UAE has benefitted from globalisation under the current system, Dr Gargash said that concerns remained.
“If you look at the awful security situation, and we can clearly see it in the Middle East, I think we are also very concerned about the ability of the system to regulate itself, regulate its security, and you can very clearly see what is happening in our region nowadays.”
There are increased calls from developing countries to reassess the established global order and include developing countries, such as India and Brazil, to reflect the realities on the ground.
Dr Gargash said that the UAE had benefitted from globalisation under the current system but concerns remained