Manama: Saudi Arabia has reopened its airspace and land and sea borders with Qatar on Monday night, in a move to end a diplomatic standoff lasting more than three and a half years.
The diplomatic breakthrough, which was announced on state TV by Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Dr. Ahmad Nasser al-Sabah, came ahead of a summit of the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) to be held in the northwestern Saudi city of AlUla on Tuesday.
Qatar and Saudi Arabia and its allies are expected to sign a deal in the GCC summit meant to end a protracted dispute that led the quartet to impose an embargo on Qatar.
Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani is expected to attend the Gulf summit after an invitation from Saudi King Salman.
Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt imposed a diplomatic, trade and travel embargo on Qatar in June 5, 2017, accusing Qatar of supporting terrorism.
Qatar has repeatedly denied the allegations.
The Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Nawaf Al-Sabah has led recent mediation efforts. “Based on Sheikh Nawaf’s proposal, it was agreed to open the airspace and land and sea borders between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the state of Qatar, starting from this evening,” Kuwaiti Foreign Minister said.
White House senior adviser Jared Kushner flew to Saudi on Monday to attend the signing after getting a rare invitation to the Gulf summit along with US Middle East envoy Avi Berkowitz and Brian Hook, a special State Department adviser, Reuters reported.
“We’ve had a breakthrough in the Gulf Cooperation Council rift,” a senior Trump administration official said.
Under the proposed deal, the U.S. officials said, the four countries will end the blockade of Qatar, and in exchange, Qatar will not pursue lawsuits related to the blockade.
“This is the biggest breakthrough we’ve had to date”, said the official. “The blockade will be lifted. It will allow for travel among the countries as well as goods. It will lead to more stability in the region,” he added.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. and Saudi officials had secured a compromise that will allow Qatar to again fly planes over the Gulf nation in exchange for Qatar Airways dropping a series of legal challenges against the four nations for the airspace bans.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman said the summit would unite Gulf ranks “in the face of challenges facing the region”, according to the Saudi news agency.
More work lies ahead and we are moving in the right direction, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said.
