Saudi Arabia's Foreign Affairs Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Friday that the kingdom along with three other Gulf state nations-- UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt-- are close to coming to an agreement with Qatar to end their three-year boycott of the world's third-largest natural gas reserve nation.
The Saudi kingdom is the only country to express its optimism about the ongoing normalization talks. Similar signs of progress were shown more than a year ago but that all came crumbling down.
In 2017, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE, and Egypt imposed a diplomatic, trade, and travel boycott on Qatar for allegedly funding terrorism in the region and for its close relations with Iran all four countries described as unhealthy.
Kuwait has led peace negotiations over the past years and now says that all five sides are now seeing eye to eye on key issues that caused the strain in relations.
"Fruitful discussions have taken place recently in which all sides expressed their keenness … to reach a final agreement," Sheikh Ahmad Nasser al-Sabah, Kuwait's foreign affairs minister and lead negotiator, said.
U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo praised Kuwait's leadership in the talks saying "We’re going to keep working to facilitate conversations and dialogues," adding that he hoped the foundation for peace is "lasting."
From what we last heard, Qatar has been given a 13-point ultimatum to abide by if peace and a restoration of trade and diplomatic ties are ever to take place. The ultimatum includes the dismantling of Qatari based media giant Al Jazeera.
By: Niza Nondo
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