Energy & Economics

This is the first in a two-part series on the topic "U.S. Aid to Egypt: Building a Partnership for the 21st Century." Read Part II. For the first time in nearly twenty years, the United States will soon revamp foreign aid to Israel and Egypt. Given the centrality of these

Testimony before the House Committee on International Relations The U.S. sanctions on Iran have imposed costs on the U.S. economy, but those have been small compared to the benefits. When the sanctions were adopted, the weight of expert opinion was that they would have little effect on Iran. The Financial

The United States played an important supporting role in the quiet drama of re-building Jordan-Israel ties by holding an official signing ceremony two weeks ago to recognize the Al Hassan Industrial Zone in Irbid, Jordan as a "Qualifying Industrial Zone" (QIZ). The QIZ agreement, first signed at the Doha conference

What Is MENABANK? The idea for a regional development bank in the Middle East has been around for years. However, practical work for creation of a bank only began when the four core peace process parties—Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, and Egypt—jointly proposed the creation of the Bank in 1995

While Kofi Annan's diplomacy has received headlines, another Security Council action last week-approval of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1153 on February 20-was subject to remarkably little scrutiny. This resolution, designed to expand the existing oil-for-food program with Iraq, was intended to blunt criticism from Arab and others as

In the Middle East, money talks -- but not as loudly as politics. That's the lesson to be learned from the Middle East/North Africa economic summit, which concluded late last month in Doha, Qatar, under the shadow of the Iraq crisis. For Washington, the two events are connected, with the

With the world focused on the UN-Iraqi standoff, the fourth annual Middle East/North Africa (MENA) Economic Conference concluded quietly in Qatar earlier this week. As Arab world heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia officially boycotted the proceedings, the MENA summit ended on an ambivalent note: Though viewed as a general success

On June 2, after a seventeen-year closure, Syria opened its border at three points to its neighbor and long-time rival Iraq. The move, coming amidst unusual reciprocal visits of Iraqi and Syrian business delegations to each others' capitals, suggests an economic marriage of convenience. There is a possibility, however, that

The April 10 German court finding that Iran's top leaders ordered the assassination of several dissidents in Berlin underscores the hollowness of Europe's policy of engagement with Iran, and presents the U.S. with a unique opportunity to make Iran's leaders pay a real economic price for their brazen disregard of