Looking Beyond Oil  and The Qatar Model

This edition examines the evolving landscape of Iraq’s economic integration with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) amid ongoing regional conflict, supply chain disruptions, and political shifts. The publication first evaluates Qatar’s strategic, $9+ billion investment in Iraq’s energy, infrastructure, and logistics sectors to determine whether pragmatic bilateral partnerships, rather than formal GCC membership, offer a realistic model for regional integration while navigating internal risks like Iraq's "militia economy".

It then shifts focus to grassroots, non-oil commercial trade, analyzing how the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and surging freight costs along traditional Gulf corridors (such as Jebel Ali and Khorfakkan) are disrupting low-margin wholesale imports and driving Iraqi businesses to either permanently reorient their supply chains northward toward Türkiye, or center their focus on Gulf-Asia trade due to the constant disruptions within Iraq's landscape.

Contribution includes the following:

• Dr. Zeidon Alkinani - The Qatar Model: The Future of Iraq-GCC Economic Integration?
• Abdulla Al-Kalisy- Looking Beyond Oil: how Hormuz Disruption in Reshaping Iraq-GCC Trade