UAE, Qatari officials meet to repair ties

Delegations from the UAE and Qatar met in Kuwait yesterday for a first round of bilateral talks aimed at repairing ties following the end of a 3½-year blockade on Qatar last month.

The UAE has already opened its land, sea and air borders with Qatar following the Al-Ula declaration signed by the six-nation Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) on 5 January, which ended the rift between Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, and Qatar.

The three GCC members, along with Egypt, imposed a diplomatic and economic boycott of Qatar in June 2017, saying Doha was too close to Iran and was sponsoring terrorism and fostering instability — allegations Qatar strongly denies.

The foreign ministries of UAE and Qatar each issued similar statements on the talks, saying that officials discussed measures to enhance the work of the GCC for the stability and prosperity of the region.

Kuwait, which hosted the talks, played a key role in mediating an end to the dispute. But analysts have said the UAE has been more reluctant than Saudi Arabia to end the political rift. Saudi Arabia hosted the last GCC summit at Al-Ula, where the surprise declaration of unity was made. Its de facto ruler, crown prince Mohammad bin Salman, welcomed Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, while the UAE was represented by vice-president and leader of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashed al-Maktoum, rather than Abu Dhabi's crown prince Mohammad bin Zayed al-Nahyan. Bahrain's King Hamad al-Khalifah did not attend either.

By Adal Mirza