The first conference of Foreign Ministers of the Council of Arab and African States on the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden was held yesterday in the Saudi capital Riyadh to discuss the draft of establishing a joint entity under international and regional movements to control or set foot in the strategic waterway.

The Red Sea is one of the most important international shipping routes, which carry about 15% of world trade. It is home to more than 200 million people. It connects the three continents of Asia, Africa and Europe. It is also a strategic meeting point between the Mediterranean And the Indian Ocean.

Although the external presence is old in this region, where there are American, Chinese, Japanese, French and Israeli bases, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir said at the conference that the purpose of establishing the entity is "to prevent external forces from playing any negative role in the region."

This sign of Saudi Arabia on the impact of the growing role of Turkey in that region after the signing of an agreement between Ankara and Khartoum, under which Turkey to rehabilitate the island of Swak historic in the Red Sea.

On the banks of the Horn of Africa, Turkey has established a military front when it established its largest base in Somalia, home to 200 Turkish officers involved in the training of thousands of Somali soldiers and officers.

Israel is also not far from the Saudi policies that have become close to it recently, and Saudi Arabia controls the entrance to the Gulf of Tiran, the main shipping corridor leading to the Israeli port of Eilat on the Gulf of Aqaba.

Map of Red Sea Ports

Riyadh and Cairo signed the maritime demarcation agreement in April 2016, under which Egypt handed over the islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia. This means that Saudi Arabia will be a third party to this agreement and pave the way for Saudi relations with the Israeli side.

In a study published by General Shaul Shay, director of the research unit at the Center for Policy and Strategy at Herzliya's multi-disciplinary academic center in Israel Today in early 2017, he noted Israel's preference for the Red Sea to remain under the influence of the Sunni-led Saudi- Resulting from Iranian control over him. "

Economic dimension
Al-Jubeir said that the entity that will be established will contribute to the promotion of trade and investment.

Once again, these statements and moves came after Sudan and Qatar agreed to develop Port Sudan to become the largest port on the Red Sea coast, as well as Qatari investments in Ethiopia.

Saudi Arabia launched a five-hundred-billion-dollar strategic project on the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba, a project aimed at establishing a commercial and industrial investment zone as well as resorts and tourist cities on the coast. North West, and includes territories inside Egypt and Jordan.

The New York-based Bloomberg News Agency quoted Israeli analysts as saying that the project can not be launched and linked to the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh via a bridge over the Red Sea without Israel's approval, in which they read a new opportunity for regional cooperation that Israel wants to promote with the two countries, Arabi.

The conference, which was attended by high-level officials from the foreign ministries of Riyadh, Egypt, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Jordan, will hold a meeting in Cairo for senior officials to discuss further details of the establishment of the entity.