GCC leaders vow joint action to confront challenges

ALULA (Pajhwok): Leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council on Tuesday signed two documents, the Al-Ula Declaration, named after the Saudi city where this year’s regional summit was held, and a final communique.

After the summit, Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister said full ties have been restored between Qatar and the four nations that severed relations with Doha in a rift that began over three years ago,

Saudi Arabia led a coalition of countries in the Gulf and beyond that cut ties and transport links with Qatar in June 2017, charging that it was too close to Iran and backed radical Islamist groups — allegations Doha has always denied.

“What happened today is … the turning of the page on all points of difference and a full return of diplomatic relations,” Prince Faisal bin Farhan told a press conference at the conclusion of the landmark regional summit in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi state media said that de facto leader Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met separately with Qatar’s ruler Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, after the pair publicly embraced at the airport.

“During the meeting, they reviewed bilateral relations between the two brotherly countries and ways of consolidating the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) joint action,” the official Saudi Press Agency said.

The documents are general in terms, but Prince Mohammed said earlier that the Gulf states had inked an agreement that affirms “our Gulf, Arab and Islamic solidarity and stability”.

He called for unity to confront challenges facing the region, singling out “the threats posed by the Iranian regime’s nuclear and ballistic missile programme and its plans for sabotage and destruction.”

The summit comes a day after it was announced that Saudi Arabia would reopen its airspace and sea and land border to Qatar under the deal signed today.

Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah praised the historic achievement by signing the statement of Al-la, recalling the sincere role played by the late Emir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah who contributed greatly to the success of this agreement.
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