{"id":114644,"date":"2026-04-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/?p=114644"},"modified":"2026-04-29T06:01:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T06:01:59","slug":"a-widening-schism-between-riyadh-and-abu-dhabi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/menaplus\/2026\/04\/29\/a-widening-schism-between-riyadh-and-abu-dhabi\/","title":{"rendered":"A widening schism between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi"},"content":{"rendered":"

The rift between the UAE and Saudi Arabia got a lot wider <\/strong>after the UAE said yesterday that it\u2019s leaving Opec this coming Friday, casting doubt on the future of the cartel.<\/p>\n

But the body blow didn\u2019t stop there: It\u2019s anyone\u2019s guess what the GCC\u2019s political and <\/strong>security architecture looks like this morning<\/strong> after the UAE sent its foreign minister, not MbZ, to yesterday\u2019s Saudi-led \u201cextraordinary summit\u201d in Jeddah. The heads of state of Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait were all on hand when Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called the meeting to order. <\/p>\n

The moves came just a day after closely watched UAE presidential advisor Anwar <\/strong>Gargash hammered the GCC as a political body<\/strong>, saying out loud what no UAE official has ever said before: The GCC\u2019s response to two months of Iranian attacks is \u201cthe weakest historically considering the nature of the attack and the threat it poses to everyone.\u201d <\/p>\n

It gets worse: <\/strong>The GCC\u2019s response to Iran was the kind of weak sauce you\u2019d expect from the Arab League<\/a>, he said, \u201cnot from the GCC, and I am surprised by it.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n

None of this is happening at a good time for the private sector: <\/strong>GCC project awards are down nearly 10%, MEED says, regional tourism is facing a USD 56 bn hit per Oxford Economics<\/a>, and everyone\u2019s cashflows are strained. Happy hump day, friends. <\/p>\n

One (very nice) ray of sunshine: <\/strong>Citadel is setting up shop in Dubai \u2014 an opening that would have been one of the most important in DIFC history even if it wasn\u2019t happening in the middle of a war. \u2013Patrick<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Plus: Citadel is setting up shop in Dubai<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2604],"tags":[2538,2843,2603],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-114644","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opening-note","tag-enterpriseam","tag-opec","tag-opening-note","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"ed325155-b2a7-460d-94f9-58750d9db592","order":"1","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"A widening schism between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi","related_issue":[114642],"teaser":"Plus: Citadel is setting up shop in Dubai"},"yoast_head":"\nA widening schism between Riyadh and Abu Dhabi - 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