Dubai: The Qatar crisis was discussed at the meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers in Kuwait on Monday, a Kuwaiti daily reported.
Instead the ministers discussed economic cooperation, joint agreements, gas and electricity projects and women’s empowerment, diplomatic sources told Kuwait’s Al Rai daily.
“The Qatar crisis was avoided so as not to thwart rapprochment efforts,” said the source.
Today the Gulf summit begins at Al Bayan Palace in Kuwait city where the crisis with Qatar is expected to feature prominently.
The summit had remained in doubt after Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) cut off their diplomatic, commercial and travel links with fellow GCC member Qatar on June 5 after they accused it of funding terrorism and interference in their domestic affairs of other countries.
The three countries, and Egypt which also cut off its ties with Doha, presented a list of 13 demands to Qatar which rejected them, deepening the standoff.
Kuwait has exerted strenuous efforts to mediate between the two sides and although no real breakthrough in the crisis has been achieved, it has succeeded in bringing the six members of the GCC to Kuwait for their annual summit as scheduled.
Oman is the sixth member of the alliance set up in 1981 in the UAE capital Abu Dhabi.
