Egypt and Qatar resume diplomatic relations

Egypt will resume diplomatic relations with Qatar, as the country's Foreign Ministry has informed in a statement. The latter also reported the exchange of two official memoranda between Cairo and Doha which would confirm this re-establishment of diplomacy between the two countries.

This step would be one of those set out in the Al-Ula declaration, which put an end to the blockade Qatar had been subjected to since 2017 by three of its neighbours-Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain-and Egypt. For the time being, according to Egyptian diplomatic sources, the representation in Doha will be interim, though the North African country is considering appointing a new ambassador at the end of the year.

This news follows the opening up of Egyptian air space to flights of all kinds from Qatar. In fact, the first commercial plane from Doha landed in the Egyptian capital last Monday, re-establishing a connection that stopped operating in 2017 due to the blockade.

Over the past months Kuwait has attempted to mediate to put an end to the dispute these four countries had with Qatar, which they accused of cooperating with terrorist organisations, including the Muslim Brothers. This group is banned in Egypt following the coup that brought the head of the Egyptian army, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, to power in 2014. Qatar's connivance with this group, which seeks to spread so-called political Islam, was one of the main reasons why the Gulf monarchies decided to break off relations with Doha. What is more, both Egypt and the United Arab Emirates support Haftar in Libya, while Qatar and Turkey do the same with the National Accord Government, and there are therefore several scenarios that have fuelled friction with the Qataris.

Finally, the 41st summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which Emir Al-Thani had not attended since 2017, ended with Al-Ula's declaration whereby the four countries –Egypt was invited to the summit– undertook to end the blockade and restore relations with Qatar.

Another key aspect reported by Qatari foreign ministry sources is that the media giant Al-Jazeera will change its channel policy with respect to Egypt in order to improve the country's public image and foster relations between the two countries.