Manama: Qatar’s capital Doha prepared a pompous flag-flapping welcome for Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud on his first official visit to the peninsular country.
Flags of Qatar and Saudi Arabia as well as large pictures of Emir Shaikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani and King Salman adorned the highways and avenues of Doha in a clear message of welcome to the Saudi monarch on the second leg of his four-nation tour in the Arabian Gulf.
King Salman arrived from the UAE where he started the tour and will on Tuesday head to Bahrain where he will take part in the 37th summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), an alliance formed in 1981 and which comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Following the two-day summit, King Salman will head to Kuwait where he will also be given a particularly warm welcome.
King Salman visited Qatar earlier this year, but it was to offer his condolences on the former emir, the late Shaikh Khalifa Bin Hamad Al Thani, the grandfather of the current ruler.
Both Qatar and Saudi Arabia said that they looked forward to the consolidation of their relations through the much-anticipated visit.
Talks between King Salman and Shaikh Tamim are expected to focus on bilateral relations and the latest regional and international developments, sources in both countries said.
“Relations between Qatar and Saudi Arabia are an example to be emulated in terms of cooperation and integration between the two sister countries that share common bonds of history and compassion,” Qatar News Agency (QNA) said. “The two countries regularly coordinate over most of the issues of concern to the GCC states and to the Arab world, especially those related to the developments in Syria and Yemen, the Palestinian cause and the call for a fair settlement of the Libyan issue based on respect for the United Nations resolutions.”
