The ‘New Quad’ in the Middle East: Opportunities and Implications for Sri Lanka’s Middle Eastern Relations

Abstract

The emerging geopolitical tension and the trade competition in the Indian Ocean urge Sri Lanka to plan its diplomatic ties prudently encouraging Sri Lankan decision-makers to envisage a new strategy for international diplomatic cooperation: minilateralism. This diplomatic engagement mode enables smaller states to cooperate with greater powers in small-scaled/sized cooperation patterns to increase their international opportunities. Since the Indian Ocean has become a hotspot of maritime trade competition and various geostrategic developments, Sri Lanka aspires to new venues for international cooperation. The ‘new Quad’ formed among the United States, India, Israel, and the United Arab Emirates can be a potentially lucrative partnership for a littoral state like Sri Lanka. Amid these developments, this paper seeks to fill a void by delving into the strategic reasons for Sri Lanka’s engagement with the Middle East via minilateralism. This paper investigates the newly strategising affairs of the ‘new Quad’ which two of their member states, Israel and UAE are from the Middle East, and views on how Sri Lanka can benefit in economic ties and crisis management realms to deal with energy and maritime trade issues.