Qatar, UAE meet for third round of talks after Gulf diplomatic crisis

Qatari and UAE representatives met in Doha on Thursday to discuss means of putting the 2021 Al-Ula declaration, which ended the Gulf diplomatic crisis, into effect.

They also discussed the need to further Qatar-UAE ties and collaboration, the official Qatar News Agency reported.

This was the third time Qatar and the UAE have held talks on the declaration since it was concluded, according to official Emirati news agency WAM.

The Al-Ula Declaration was agreed upon by Egypt and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations in the Saudi city of Al-Ula in January 2021.

It ended a blockade and diplomatic boycott of Qatar which Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and the UAE imposed in 2017.

The four countries accused Qatar of secret ties to Iran and "terrorist" groups and gave it a list of demands, including the closure of the Al-Jazeera news network and The New Arab.

Qatar vehemently denied the charges and rejected the demands as an attempt to impose hegemony on it.

The Al-Ula Declaration came after diplomatic intervention from the United States under then-President Donald Trump and Kuwait.

Thursday's talks come after Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Qatari emir, met the de facto leader of the UAE, Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan at the Olympics in China last week.

This was the first encounter of its kind following the Al-Ula Declaration.