The significance of the security accord signed by Interior Minister Prince Naif and his Iranian counterpart Abdol Vahed Musavi-Lari yesterday goes beyond the subjects and areas specified in the document. While the immediate effect of the accord would be the creation of a machinery to jointly fight a range of security issues, the reading in many capitals is that it marks the beginning of a new era in regional cooperation. And that cooperation, it is felt, will not be limited to the Kingdom and Iran, but will, eventually, extend to embrace the entire region. The commonplace nature of the issues covered — fighting organized crime, terrorism, drug trafficking, money laundering and so on — might tempt us to dismiss such rosy readings as unrealistic. But, it is that very “commonplaceness” that gives the agreement its foundation of solidity. This is a region that has seen many “earthshaking” accords — covering anything from the formation of “federations” to declarations of “final war” — all of which died even before the signing ceremony ended because there was nothing practical in them to work on. In contrast, the present accord sets down areas of practical, everyday cooperation, from where, it can extend to wider and wider fields.
In case we forget, equally unimpressive were the beginning of all efforts at successful international cooperation; the European Union being the most recent example. Nations with centuries of war and mayhem behind them have now erased, for all practical purposes, the borders dividing them. Not a single cent is spent on defending themselves from any other EU member. Their resources, in their entirety, are spent on giving their peoples a better life — better health care, better education, better everything. When Europe, with all its different languages, religions and cultures and memories of conquests and defeats could do that, can’t this region — kept divided by nothing but lack of vision — cooperate to build?
The Kingdom’s policies, throughout its history, were built on a clear understanding of its, the region’s, the Arab nation’s and the Muslim world’s long-term interests. It always knew that conflicts did not solve problems, only created them. That is why even when spurned, the Kingdom has never pulled back its hand extended in good will for all to take.
The Kingdom and Iran, by virtue of their size, resources and potentials are key players in the region. Close cooperation between them will set the tone for the future relations in the area, and the wider Arab and Islamic world. That the two countries had differences in the past and still have different perceptions on many issues should in no way affect their ability to explore wider and wider avenues for joint action. The mark of maturity in peoples, communities or countries is their ability to maintain friendship even while they disagree and to cooperate in areas of common interest.
Of course, all may not welcome this coming together in the region. It is a sad fact of life that there are always those — “friends” as well as enemies — whose interests suffer when others cease to fight. The leaders of both the nations must be appreciated for disregarding such calls for enmity in the interests of the “free world” or of “the revolution”.
