Wide Gulf - Riyadh Bureau - #Qatar #SaudiArabia #Kuwait tks @ahmed
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| Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan (Abdulhamid Hosbas/Anadolu Agency/Getty) |
Is the Gulf crisis about to be resolved? Noises from Kuwait, Riyadh and Doha all suggest that, after more than three years of impasse and near misses, we may finally have a breakthrough.
Kuwait foreign minister Sheikh Ahmed Nasser al-Mohammed al-Sabah said Friday that “fruitful talks” were recently held and all parties “affirmed their commitment to Gulf and Arab solidarity and stability”. The minister also used his brief televised statement to give a shout out to Jared Kushner, President Donald Trump’s son-in-law and envoy to the Middle East, who visited the region last week as part of the effort to end the dispute.
Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said he is “somewhat optimistic” that a resolution involving not just the kingdom but also the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt is now possible. “We’ve made significant progress in the last few days,” he said in a conference via video later that day. “We hope that this progress can lead to a final agreement which looks in reach”. His Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman on Twitter called the Kuwaiti statement “an imperative step towards resolving the GCC crisis”.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said via teleconference at the Manama Dialogue that his country is “very hopeful” that the row would be resolved.
It remains unclear what might be the final form of this agreement. News reports in recent days said the two sides remain far apart on many issues, but they may agree on a series of “confidence building measures” such as re-opening the land border and allowing Qatar Airways to use the kingdom’s airspace. In return, Qatar would be expected to “tone down” its Al Jazeera television network coverage.
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