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’s foreign minister said Tuesday.
“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 a landmark regional summit in Saudi Arabia.
Saudi state media said that 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.
Leaders of the six-member GCC signed two documents on Tuesday, the Al-Ula Declaration, named after the Saudi city where this year’s regional summit was held, and a final communique.
The GCC member states include Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar.
Earlier on Tuesday, Mohammed bin Salman said 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 program and its plans for sabotage and destruction.
