Qatar PM to attend Gulf summit in Saudi Arabia

Qatar's prime minister will attend talks in Saudi Arabia over soaring regional tensions, the first high-level contact between the two following a two-year Riyadh-led boycott of Doha.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab & agencies

29 May, 2019

It is the first high-level contact following a two-year Riyadh-led boycott of Doha [Getty]

Qatar's prime minister will attend talks in Saudi Arabia over soaring regional tensions, Al Jazeera reported Wednesday, the first high-level contact between the two following a two-year Riyadh-led boycott of Doha.

"Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani will attend a Gulf summit in Mecca this weekend," Al Jazeera, a Doha-based and state-funded news network, wrote on its website.

"A high-level source exclusively told Al Jazeera on Wednesday the face-to-face between Sheikh Abdullah and top officials from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and other countries will take place at the meeting starting on Thursday."

The announcement comes two days after a plane from the Qatari Emiri fleet landed in the coastal city of Jeddah on Monday, for the first time since the start of a Saudi-led economic and diplomatic boycott against Doha.

It was not clear who was on board the plane but an image of it parked in the airport resurfaced on local media.

Aviation analyst Alex Macheras reported that a Qatari diplomat was onboard the flight to discuss an upcoming emergency summit in Mecca on tensions between Iran and the United States.

The report comes after Qatar said on Sunday that it had received an invitation from Saudi Arabia to attend the regional talks.

Qatar's neighbours have closed off their airspace to Qatari planes since June 2017, when they launched a boycott of Doha.

Read more: At Mecca summit, Riyadh will only get 'verbal solidarity'

The bloc cut ties with Qatar for allegedly supporting "extremists" and seeking closer ties with arch-rival Iran - charges Doha has vehemently denied.

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