(Adnkronos) – Geopolitics and finance are increasingly interconnected. This is the picture that emerges from a Financial Times article after the ‘sudden’ return to the United Arab Emirates by Pakistan, which is attempting difficult mediation between the US and Iran, of a deposit of approximately 3.5 billion dollars at the Central Bank. What Islamabad described as a simple “routine transaction” arrived this month – according to the FT, which cites sources close to the matter – after a ‘shock’ request from the Emirates, which reportedly caught Islamabad’s Ministry of Finance, as well as the IMF, by surprise. A request, according to sources, that threatened to drain a fifth of the Pakistani Central Bank’s reserves and jeopardized the IMF’s seven-billion-dollar aid plan, agreed two years ago.
Behind the Emirati moves there would be growing frustration in Abu Dhabi over Pakistan’s most recent foreign policy choices. Analysts refer both to the strengthening of ties between Islamabad and Riyadh, which signed a defense pact last year, and to what would have been considered a ‘weak’ response from Pakistan to Iranian attacks against Gulf countries, when Tehran ‘responded’ to American and Israeli operations, halted by a fragile truce.
Three Pakistani advisors reported that the Emirates had hinted to Islamabad that they wanted a tougher stance against Iran. Neil Quilliam, from Chatham House, is convinced that Pakistan’s role as a mediator has irritated the Emirates. From the Emirates’ point of view, he observed, “there is no neutrality” and “if you act as a mediator, you are in an intermediate position.” And the Emirates don’t like that.
Then there are also regional tensions. Between Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, they have become evident in Yemeni territory, the newspaper recalls. Cracks, the FT observes, masked by the war between the United States and Iran, which in its ‘response’ attacked both the Emirates and the Gulf monarchy. But, analysts say, tensions persist. With Riyadh closer to Islamabad, Ankara, and Cairo, compared to Abu Dhabi.
The Emirates, Quilliam states, “see this growing alliance between Saudis and Pakistanis and, for the Emirates, it represents a conflict of interest.” Even if Abu Dhabi looks more towards India, Pakistan’s historical rival. No response to the newspaper’s requests for comment from Abu Dhabi’s diplomacy or from the Pakistani Ministry of Finance.
And, as the Emirates’ pressure intensified, Saudi Arabia stepped forward: three billion dollars in new deposits at the Central Bank and an extension for over a year of existing deposits worth five billion dollars.
