Comoros needs Arab envoys

Sixteen years after it joined the Arab League, the Union of Comoros has yet to receive an Arab ambassador. The leaders and the people of this little-known Arab state, a small island nation in the Indian Ocean off the eastern coast of Africa, just don't understand why Arab countries are reluctant to send ambassadors, which is the natural basis of relations between countries.

In the case of Comoros, the issue is crucial because the country has come out of very troublesome two decades of political bruises and economic underdevelopment. Since 2006, with the election of Ahmad Abdullah Sambi as president, Comoros has witnessed unprecedented stability and restored its relations with global financial institutions.

Comoros has the potential to become one of the fastest growing economies in Africa and the Arab world because of its strategic location, rich fertile land and the beauty of its beaches and forests. But with a limited access to foreign investments and a meagre annual budget of 40 million euros (Dh216 million), it is hard to do much to develop those sectors.

Therefore, the support of Arab governments and investors is urgently needed. But as President Sambi told Gulf News, Comoros needs to see Arab envoys first. "We are Arabs, aren't we?" one official asked. He surely speaks for all his people.