Manama: The six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers will hold a meeting in the Qatari capital Doha on Tuesday in preparation for next month’s summit.

The meeting, to be chaired by Qatar’s foreign minister Khalid Bin Mohammad Al Atiyyah, was initially scheduled for November 10, but was postponed amid differences between member states that threatened to cancel or shift the summit to another venue.

However, the GCC leaders at an extraordinary meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh were able to reach an agreement that paved the way for the Doha summit.

The GCC, set up in 1981, includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The alliance suffered its worst diplomatic row this year when Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE on March 5 pulled out their ambassadors from Doha to protest against Qatar’s noncompliance with the shared principles and objectives of the alliance and specifically for its support to groups they considered as terrorists. Qatar denied the charges and reaffirmed its commitment to the GCC.

Following the accord in Riyadh, the ambassadors have been reinstated ahead of the foreign ministers’ meeting.

Saudi and Qatari media reported that Qatar has appointed a new ambassador in Riyadh and that Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Abdullah, the deputy foreign minister, on Sunday received Shaikh Abdullah Bin Thamer Al Thani, who gave a copy of his credentials ahead of his formal introduction to King Abdullah.

GCC Secretary General Abdul Lateef Al Zayani on Sunday said that the foreign ministers would discuss several memoranda and reports referred to them by ministerial committees and the secretariat general over common issues. The reports also deal with the latest regional and international developments, he added in a brief statement.

The GCC ministers will also hold a meeting with their Jordanian and Moroccan counterparts to review strategic partnerships. In a separate meeting with the Yemeni foreign minister, the latest developments in Yemen will be discussed, Al Zayani said.

Both Jordan and Morocco have been particularly close to the GCC.