Manama: Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Qatar has returned to Doha more than eight months after he was withdrawn by his country.
Ambassador Abdullah Al Ifan confirmed in media statements that he was back to work with his full diplomatic staff in the Qatari capital and that he was looking forward to GCC progress in consolidating political and economic achievements.
The diplomat returned to Doha hours after the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) reached a new accord in the Saudi capital Riyadh late on Sunday to put an end to the worst diplomatic row to hit their alliance since it was founded in 1981.
The GCC groups Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Oman was not present at the summit in Riyadh.
Under the accord, an extension to the Riyadh Agreement announced on April 17, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE would reinstate their ambassadors whom they pulled out on March 5 to protest against Qatar’s policy seen as not in tune with the overall principles of the GCC.
The GCC leaders also agreed to go on with the plan to hold their annual rotating summit in Doha on December 9.
A meeting of the GCC foreign ministers, initially scheduled on November 10 but cancelled over the diplomatic row, will now be held at the end of November or early in December to prepare for the summit, London-based pan-Arab daily Al Sharq Al Awsat said.
However, a report on Tuesday in Kuwaiti daily Al Nahar, quoting diplomatic sources it did not name that the foreign ministers would meet in Doha on Wednesday has not been confirmed.
Kuwait’s cabinet and media on Tuesday lauded “the prominent role and exceptional efforts” deployed by the country’s Emir Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad in mediating the accord that helped iron out differences between member countries and put an end to the internal dispute that threatened its cohesion.
