Doha: Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz arrived in Doha on Monday night on a three-day visit to discuss bilateral ties, the national news agency said.
Emir Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani greeted Prince Sultan at the Doha International airport. His visit is seen as sealing a thaw in ties between the two countries after years of tension, and aimed to address mutual relations, regional and international issues, Qatar News Agency said.
"We are glad about the visit of Prince Sultan to Qatar and we welcome him in his second home country," said Qatar Prime Minister Shaikh Hamad Bin Jasem Bin Jabr Al Thani addressing a public gathering on Sunday night.
"The visit is a continuation of the historical relations between the two brotherly countries and it follows up on the meeting held last September between the Emir of Qatar and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz. We hope it will serve to enhance coordination between the two countries," said the minister while addressing media and diplomats on the occasion of the Doha Cultural Festival.
The visit of the Saudi royal follows the appointment of a new Saudi Ambassador to Qatar on Sunday, which ended a six-year diplomatic stalemate between the two countries.
Ahmad Bin Ali Al Qah'tani, former Saudi envoy to Damascus, presented his credentials to Qatar ministry of foreign affairs, the Qatar News agency said.
In an interview to Qatari daily Al Sharq ahead of his visit to Qatar, the Saudi Crown Prince described the ties between Saudi Arabia and Qatar as brotherly and said the two countries have historic ties and a common fate.
"The mutual relations between our countries and peoples survive any external and foreign influences."
Nuclear crisis: 'Arabs must talk to Iran'
Dialogue between Gulf Arabs and Iran over its nuclear ambitions is the best way to avoid another crisis in the region, Qatar's prime minister said.
"It is very important that we have clear relations, frank relations, with Iran," Shaikh Hamad Bin Jasem Bin Jabr Al Thani said in remarks aired yesterday.
Discussion was important and "each side must respect the other's thinking and its understanding of security", he said at a conference in Doha.
The Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency has been seeking to clarify whether Iran has worked towards developing nuclear weapons and Shaikh Hamad noted differences between the positions of the UN agency and Tehran.
"The IAEA is not 100 per cent agreed with Iran but what we hear differs to what we hear from other parties, so it is important that no one shoves the region toward a new adventure and that as neighbours with Iran we have an understanding about this issue," he said.
- Reuters
