Okaz In light of the successes achieved by Saudi Arabia in forming two military alliances in less than a year — one to establish legitimacy in Yemen and another to reorganize Muslim countries and root out terrorism — I think there is a possibility to set out more such alliances to get rid of military and security accords. I mean economic alliances that would speed up progress and prosperity. At a time when Arab countries have failed to achieve economic integration, including formation of a customs union or economic union and common currency, other countries in the world seek to forge major economic alliances irrespective of their geographic, ethnic, language and other differences. It looks strange that we are not moved by huge developments taking place in the east of our continent. It has started touching our noses and even our mustaches but it does not provoke us like before. In South Asia, India and Japan that represent the third and seventh largest economies of the world, have signed agreements for technological cooperation. These accords cover major economic and strategic sectors beginning from transport and defense and ending with peaceful use of nuclear technology. In Far-East, quick reply came from China and South Korea, the second and 11th largest economies, by signing an agreement to establish a free-trade zone. This came as crowning of similar accords signed with ASEAN, New Zealand and Australia in preparation to establish an Asia Pacific Free-trade Zone. Although China and South Korea launched the free economic zone earlier this month in response to the accord signed by India with Japan earlier, the reality is just the opposite. China has been trying for the past 10 years to establish a free-trade zone with South Korea and other countries that form the world's largest consumer market. The speedy agreement between India and Japan can be considered a strategic move to confront China's economic hegemony in the region. The conflict of India and Japan with China has encouraged both countries to form the new alliance. Although China knows the interests of countries to establish alliances with others, it has tried to negotiate with Japan to sign a deal in order to join the free-trade zone as it wanted economic cooperation to prevail over their differences and conflicts. I would like to suggest that Saudi Arabia establish economic alliance with all its Arab and Islamic allies. As long as we are capable of forging defense and security alliances, why don't we use such capabilities and skills to establish fruitful economic alliances for the benefit of all?
