(MENAFN- The Peninsula) sanaullah ataullah |
The Peninsula
Doha, Qatar: Experts have warned against long-term impact of prolonging Russia-Ukraine War on global economy calling for immediate solution to end the conflict.
The Qatar Press Center (QPC), in cooperation with the Media Development Department of the Qatar Media Corporation (QMC), yesterday hosted a seminar on 'The Russia-Ukraine War and its Impact on the Global Economy' at its headquarters.
The panellists included economist, Abdullah Al Khater; strategic expert, Dr. Sultan Barakat; and political analyst, Dr. Muhammad Al Sharqawi, while Mohammed Al Ansari moderated the seminar.
Al Khater said that Russia-Ukraine War triggered a massive shock to the global economy with special impact on energy, supply chain, and inflation.“The prices of energy increased remarkably creating problems for the European and some other countries,” said Al Khater.
Speaking about the impact of the war on food security, Dr. Barakat said that the food prices went up with the beginning of the war but due to a deal which was made with the support of the UN and Turkiye prices of food items saw a decline.
To recall, Turkiye and the UN brokered an accord with the warring sides last summer, which came with a separate agreement to facilitate shipments of Russian food and fertilisers.
Editor-in-Chief of The Peninsula Dr. Khalid Al-Shafi (right) receiving a certificate of appreciation from Director General of Qatar Press Centre Sadiq Mohamed Al Amari at its headquarters yesterday.
“We are now talking about an expected crisis for Arab food security. We have the countries like Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, all of which depend on Ukrainian and Russian wheat exports by between fifty and eighty percent,” said Barakat.
He said that the reality now is that everyone is dependent on a global free economy and everyone is looking for the cheapest products. “The basic solution exists for other countries to invest in agriculture; it is possible to easily compensate for the shortage created by Ukraine and Russia,” said Barakat.
Speaking about global policies and strategies to address the war crisis, Dr. Al Sharqawi said that some of the strategies which were adopted to address the issue were more about political economy rather than the traditional war.
“The real war is a political war. I would like to explain it. The alliance between China and Russia can expand the circle to Iran and the rest of the countries that have become relatively turning their backs on the United States. All of these countries pour into China to destabilise the American centralism,” said Al Sharqawi.
On the issue of food security, he said:“Turkish mediation and the United Nations succeeded reaching half the solution to the grain crisis by moving Ukrainian wheat ships from Kremlin.”
Panellists economist Abdullah Al Khater (second right); strategic expert Dr. Sultan Barakat (second left) and political analyst Dr. Muhammad Al Sharqawi (left) with moderator Mohammed Al Ansari at the seminar.
“But it is half the solution because the agreement was subject to renewal. In short, the ball is still in the court of Kremlin when it changes the mind, the food crises would relapse,” said Al Sharqawi.
He said that the Russia-Ukraine War is not a matter of increasing and decreasing of war but battle of the political economy is also going side-by-side.“We know when the war started but no one can predict when it will go to an end,” said Al Sharqawi. Therefore, he said:“I see in the Russia-Ukraine War as two different wars, but they are parallel in two divergent tracks. There is the military track. We note now that there are Russian forces attacking Ukraine, and there is NATO aid on a gradual basis for the Ukrainian forces but the real war is the war of the political economy.”
He said that the economic dilemma has become the core of this global struggle between two camps, not as was the case during the days of the Soviet Union and the socialist camp, in the sense that they are not ideological camps, and not political camps in the narrow sense of the word politics, but economic camps.
Speaking about the impact of the war on energy market, Al Khater said that there were growing concerns in the market about the fuel prices especially in the European market.
“The measures taken by the international market helped stabilise the prices somehow gradually,” said Al Khater.
Regarding food security, he said that Russia and Ukraine are among major food providers to the world that is why it is very important to end the war to ensure food supply.
At the end of the session Qatar Press Center honoured The Peninsula and other local media appreciating their efforts in giving intensive coverage to the activities and events of the centre.