This research paper has offered preliminary ideas on building a more inclusive and sustainable regional cooperation forum. Our proposals are based on extensive feedback from actors in the MENA region, lessons from other global experiences, and our professional assessment of what is and is not feasible in the Middle East’s current political and security environment. Should regional leaders and policymakers initiate such a process and find value in these suggestions, they will no doubt formulate their own answers and seek to define the features and operating principles of any new platform accordingly. Nonetheless, as a starting point for debate and exploratory work, we offer the following recommendations:
- Political leaders and policymakers in the MENA region should capitalize on the current wave of regional de-escalation to launch an official region-wide forum for cooperation. This could be called something like the ‘MENA Forum’ (or MEF).
- Work on creating the MEF could be initiated at a high-level meeting in a MENA capital agreeable to all participants and perceived as neutral, at which a group of regional foreign ministers would announce the formation of the new dialogue platform. At this launch summit, the initial set of participating countries could issue a joint founding declaration outlining principles for cooperation. This charter should commit the parties to regular meetings and substantive cooperation on areas of common concern. High-level regional buy-in and political support will be essential for a successful launch.
- The effort should be branded as MENA-made and MENA-led. A state or group of states from the MENA region should take the lead in establishing the forum. However, international backing, particularly from envoys from Europe or the UN, will also be critical.
- To ‘get the ball rolling’, it is important to begin with a smaller grouping of Arab states plus Türkiye, as this combination would offer better chances of success than a more expansive format at the outset. The longer-term objective would be to include the full MENA region. Because Türkiye and several of the proposed founding Arab participants maintain ties to both Iran and Israel, the MEF has greater potential to expand cooperation to the entire region over time.
- Preventing great power competition from hijacking the initiative will be key. This rules out direct participation by the US and China, at least as founding members. However, success would still depend on both countries providing political support, as well as mutually accepting the other’s role in the initiative. If either the US or China is seen as more closely aligned with the new forum, there would be an increased risk of it becoming a platform for global competition.
These recommendations are intended for politicians, policymakers and researchers throughout the MENA region, particularly in the countries we have identified as potential founding participants. Elements of our proposals would also need to be taken up by external governments and international organizations. It will be necessary to draw on both regional and global expertise so that practical ideas can be developed for moving from concepts to concrete actions. By outlining a feasible path forward and a vision for a more cooperative future that is in the interest of every nation in the MENA region, and indeed the international community, we hope to demonstrate why the political will necessary to implement these ideas is so critical, and why the time for regional leaders to meet this moment is now.
