UAE, Qatar to reopen embassies within weeks | CPT PPP Coverage

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DUBAI — Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are in the process of restoring diplomatic ties and reopening embassies, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing government officials from both sides.

This comes more than two years after Arab states including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the UAE and Bahrain ended a boycott of Qatar. In 2017, these states had severed ties with Qatar over allegations that it supported terrorism and purported ties to Iran. Doha denied these accusations.

“At present, the activation of diplomatic ties, which will include the reopening of embassies, is under process between both countries,” a UAE official said in a statement responding to Reuters.

An unnamed Gulf official told the news agency that the embassies are expected to reopen with new ambassadors in their posts by mid-June. A fourth source indicated that it would happen with full restoration within weeks.

Qatar’s international media office reaffirmed that “work is underway to reopen the respective embassies as soon as possible,” in a statement to Reuters, but did not confirm a date.

Relations between the two countries have gradually warmed since the signing of the Al-Ula Declaration in Saudi Arabia in 2021, which was brokered by the United States and Kuwait.

Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani met with UAE national security adviser Tahnoun bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Deputy Prime Minister Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan in Doha early last month.

Before that, UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan held talks in Qatar in December 2022. During the first visit of its kind, the UAE president lauded Doha’s execution of the 2022 World Cup, hosted by an Arab nation for the first time, as a success for all Arabs.

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, fellow for the Middle East at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, told Al-Monitor in March that public ties between the two countries are gaining momentum.

“The fact that the meetings gradually became more frequent, more high-level, culminating now in positive state meetings — I think this is an indication that a lot of the issues that were being worked on behind the scenes have now progressed to the level where the relationship seems to be fully back on track,” Ulrichsen explained at the time.

Also in March, Al-Monitor reported that the UAE unblocked a number of Qatari news websites after more than seven years of blocking access. The news sites included Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera English, The New Arab and the state-run Qatar News Agency, among others restricted in the country since 2016.

Bahrain followed suit in its reconciliation efforts with Qatar, announcing last week that it will resume diplomatic ties.

The advancement of relations between the UAE and Qatar takes place during a greater regional push to reconcile with other long-time political rivals such as Iran and Syria.

Earlier this month, Iran appointed Reza Ameri as its first ambassador to the UAE after eight years of political strife. This comes after UAE-Iran ties picked back up with high-level national security meetings and agreements in 2020.

Saudi Arabia and Iran restored ties in March, with the latter inviting Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdul Aziz to visit the country on Monday, according to The Wall Street Journal citing Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman. Last week, the Iranian Embassy in Saudi Arabia opened for the first time in seven years.

A number of Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, have made moves to end the more than decadelong isolation of Syria, with discussions taking place to consider readmitting Syria to the Arab League.

In regard to Yemen, Saudi Arabia and Houthi movement leaders held a round of peace talks this week, Reuters reported, noting that hundreds of detainees were exchanged with further peace talks expected to take place soon.