Qatar says it is ‘ready to participate’ in a joint US-GCC summit if necessary

It has been almost eight months since four Arab nations launched an illegal siege against Qatar by cutting off land, air and sea routes.

Despite several attempts by Kuwait and the USA, they have refused to engage in negotiations with Qatar. In such a backdrop, this week’s Qatar-USA Strategic Meetings had taken on a lot of significance.

Following the meetings, Qatar’s foreign minister HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has said that his country is willing to participate in a US-GCC summit next spring, provided the blockading countries’ motivation is based on real will and not coercion, reported Al Jazeera.

The last US-GCC summit was held in May 2017, in the Saudi capital Riyadh, just before the crisis unfolded. 

During a discussion at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington, Sheikh Mohammed said any solution to the Gulf crisis must be based on the principles of equality and respect for the sovereignty of each state.

“Qatari people stood up to the siege and could forgive the neighbours to consolidate the security of the Gulf,” he was quoted as saying by Qatar Tribune.

“Wise leadership means putting aside personal feelings to help the good of the people. It’s Qatar’s hope that the GCC can be rebuilt. The citizens of Qatar are a forgiving and resilient people,” he added.

“The restored GCC would then need to have a clear process for resolving differences. It would need to be void of forced compliance regarding foreign policy and decisions concerning domestic affairs and would need to be governed by reason over impulse,” Sheikh Mohammed added.

He also hoped that the international community would call for an immediate regional strategic dialogue to agree upon common principles of security, which could serve as a foundation for healing and ultimately lead to prosperity for the region, reported Gulf Times.

“The world is discovering that the blockading states will stop at nothing: illegal market manipulation, military aggression, humanitarian assaults, silencing of dissenters, weaponising propaganda and undermining the global fight against terrorism,” he was quoted as saying by the MoFA.

However, he said there was a silver lining to the blockade.

“Qatar has been able to show the resilience to survive under siege. Other countries in the Middle East might not be able to withstand the trials of an attack, as we’ve seen in example after example across the region.”