{"id":22380,"date":"2018-11-19T09:22:45","date_gmt":"2018-11-19T09:22:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=22380"},"modified":"2018-11-19T09:22:45","modified_gmt":"2018-11-19T09:22:45","slug":"all-gcc-countries-to-attend-riyadh-summit-kuwaiti-minister","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=22380","title":{"rendered":"All GCC countries to attend Riyadh summit: Kuwaiti minister"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

All member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which includes Qatar<\/a>, are expected to attend its next summit in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, according to Kuwait’s\u00a0Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Jarallah<\/span>.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

“I am optimistic that the level of representation is expected to be high and reflects the keenness of GCC leaders to maintain this pioneering experience,” the minister said in press statements carried by Kuwaiti news agency KUNA<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jarallah\u00a0said the summit, scheduled to be held in December, offers a ray of hope in reviving efforts to resolve more than one-year-old Gulf dispute.<\/p>\n

\n

All six attended last year\u2019s GCC Summit in Kuwait as well, so nothing necessarily new here. <\/p>\n

Keys will be what level of representation, what goes on the agenda, and how the reps interact during the sessions. https:\/\/t.co\/qX49yKka7e<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Kristian Ulrichsen (@Dr_Ulrichsen) November 19, 2018<\/a>\n<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kuwait has been mediating between Qatar and Saudi-led bloc, which imposed a land, sea and air blockade<\/span>\u00a0on the country last year.<\/p>\n

In June 2017,\u00a0Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (<\/span>UAE), Bahrain, along with non-GCC member Egypt,\u00a0cut off all diplomatic relations with Qatar.<\/span><\/p>\n

The four nations accused Qatar of supporting “terrorism” and “extremism” – allegations that Doha has repeatedly denied, calling\u00a0the boycott a challenge to its sovereignty.<\/p>\n

The GCC<\/a> is a political and economic alliance of six countries in the Arabian Peninsula:\u00a0Bahrain<\/a>, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar,\u00a0Saudi Arabia<\/a>,\u00a0and the UAE<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gulf crisis<\/h2>\n

Earlier this month, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani<\/a>\u00a0said\u00a0he regretted the continuation of conflict with other Arab states, but added that the\u00a0“crises will pass<\/a>“.<\/p>\n

The United States<\/a>, a GCC ally, has tried to mediate in the Gulf dispute, which it sees as a risk in its efforts to contain regional power Iran.<\/p>\n

Qatar is home to the largest US airbase in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

But Saudi Arabia and the UAE have repeatedly said that resolving the dispute was not a top priority for them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The diplomatic crisis over Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi<\/a>‘s assassination, however, has put Riyadh in the dock.<\/p>\n

Under pressure over Khashoggi killing, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) last month praised Qatar’s economy<\/a> in a rare conciliatory remark.<\/p>\n

‘Arab NATO’<\/h2>\n

The US push to counter Iranian threat has remained a top priority for the blockading nations led by Saudi Arabia, but Qatar has maintained diplomatic relations with Iran.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Qatar’s Defence Minister Khalid bin Mohammad al-Attiyah said that Doha maintains<\/a> “friendly relations with everyone”.<\/p>\n

“We are responsible for the supply of [an enormous amount] of the world’s energy. We have to have a smooth flow of energy, and that means we have to eliminate having enemies,” he said, referring to the country’s oilfield\u00a0<\/span>shared with Iran.<\/p>\n

In October,\u00a0Bahrain<\/a>‘s Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said a planned Gulf security alliance, expected to include\u00a0Egypt<\/a>, will be formed by next year.<\/p>\n

Khalifa said the proposed Middle East Strategic Alliance (MESA) – an initiative pushed by US President\u00a0Donald Trump<\/a>\u00a0to confront Iran – will help the Gulf remain “a pillar of stability”.\u00a0<\/p>\n

MESA has been\u00a0called<\/a> an “Arab NATO”<\/a>\u00a0by White House officials.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

\n SOURCE:
\n Al Jazeera and news agencies<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All member countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which includes Qatar, are expected to attend its next summit in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, according to Kuwait’s\u00a0Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Al-Jarallah. “I am optimistic that the level of representation is expected to be high and reflects the keenness of GCC leaders to maintain this pioneering…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":22381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=22380"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22380\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/22381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=22380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=22380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=22380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}