Saudi Arabia’s FM: AlUla declaration ends dispute with Qatar, restores all ties

The AlUla Declaration signed at the conclusion of the GCC Summit marks a definitive end to the Gulf dispute with Qatar and restores full ties with Doha, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Tuesday.

“What happened today is… the turning of the page on all points of difference and a full return of diplomatic relations,” Prince Faisal told a press conference at the conclusion of the landmark regional summit.

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The UAE, along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt, had severed diplomatic, trade and transport ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of supporting terrorism – a charge Doha denies.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani on the sidelines of the GCC summit. The two “reviewed the bilateral relations between the two brotherly countries, and ways to enhance joint Gulf action,” SPA reported.

Leaders of the six-member GCC signed two documents on Tuesday, the AlUla Declaration, named after the Saudi city where this year’s regional summit was held, and a final communique.

The Crown Prince said earlier that the Gulf states had inked an agreement that affirms “our Gulf, Arab and Islamic solidarity and stability”.

He called for unity to confront challenges facing the region, singling out “the threats posed by the Iranian regime’s nuclear and ballistic missile program and its plans for sabotage and destruction.”