Egypt's Sisi meets Qatari envoy to fix ties

Xinhua, December 21, 2014

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi met on Saturday with special envoys of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the Saudi initiative to fix the relations between Egypt and Qatar, official MENA news agency reported.

It is the first time for Sisi to meet with an envoy from Qatar since he took office in June, as relations between Cairo and Doha deteriorated over the overthrow of Egypt's former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi by the military in July, 2013.

Sisi discussed with Saudi envoy and chief of royal court Khaled al-Tuwaijiri and Qatari envoy Mohamed bin Abdurrahman Al Thani on the means of activating the Saudi initiative and the resolutions of the recent Riyadh summit, which expressed commitment of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) member states to supporting Egypt's security and stability and improving inter-Arab relations, particularly those between Egypt and Qatar.

"Egypt aims to a new era that puts the disagreements of the past behind. The sensitivity of the current stage requires giving priority to Arab unity and sincere efforts with a joint vision," MENA quoted Egyptian presidential spokesman Alaa Youssef as saying.

"President Sisi expressed appreciation of the sincere efforts of Saudi King Abdullah that aims for achieving unity and eliminating division among fellow Arab states based on mutual respect for the will of the peoples and non-interference in other countries' domestic affairs," the spokesman added.

The GCC states led by Saudi Arabia have recently reached an agreemenst in Riyadh to set forth a comprehensive framework for Arab solidarity and to overcome inter-Arab world disagreements, particularly with oil-rich Qatar.

Also on Saturday, Saudi Arabia said it welcomed the improvement of Egypt-Qatar ties, Saudi Press Agency reported.

In a statement, King Abdullah urged Egypt to support Qatar's return to the Arab fold, and appreciated the reconciliation efforts between the two countries to promote Arab unity.

After a recent agreement in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates agreed to return their ambassadors to Qatar who were withdrawn due to Doha's support of Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood group, which is currently blacklisted by Egypt and Gulf supporters as "a terrorist organization."