DOHA: Qatar’s Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani is expected to hold talks with high-level officials from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain during his visit to Makkah, Qatar’s Al Jazeera Television reported, citing a senior Qatari official.
The Prime Minister on Thursday afternoon headed to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to chair the delegation of the State of Qatar to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) emergency summit, the Arab League emergency summit and the 14th summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to be held in Makkah on Thursday and Friday, the Qatar News Agency (QNA) reported.
The Prime Minister’s participation is seen as the biggest sign of rapprochement between Qatar and the blockading nations and also the first high-level contact between the two sides since the blockade started two years ago.
Bloomberg reported that the high-level participation of Qatar in the Makkah summits might signal the end of the row between Doha and its neighbours and the reunification of the Gulf countries.
The agency said the visit could be the first concrete step to end the dispute, pointing out that it comes against the backdrop of escalation of tensions in the region, between the United States and Iran.
“With intense diplomatic efforts and the US calls for Gulf states to unite against Iran, expectations are mounting that a major deal is looming on the horizon to end the Gulf dispute,” the Bloomberg report in Arabic said.
The GCC summit is expected to focus on regional security issues amid soaring tensions between Iran and the US. Qatar is calling for a balanced and more stable approach on the Iran issue that would focus on the dangers and consequences of pushing the region into an armed conflict.
“The difficult and sensitive conditions in the region and the rapid escalation require wisdom and accountability,” Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Lulwa Al Khater said. She said the sense of responsibility and a rational approach is a national and humanitarian duty today to achieve international security and protect the supreme interests of the region.