Qatar to reopen neighbours’ skies at UN meet

Turkish exports to Qatar triple

MONTREAL, June 24, (Agencies): The United Nations aviation agency will hold a special hearing next Friday on Qatar’s request to reopen Gulf airspace that was closed to its flights during a major diplomatic dispute with other Arab powers, its transport minister said on Friday.

Jassim Saif Al Sulaiti told Reuters the Gulf state was pushing to “get more routes for Qatar” and wants the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to open international air routes over Gulf waters currently managed by the United Arab Emirates.

The UAE is among four countries, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt, that have closed their airspace to Qatar, forcing state-owned Qatar Airways to fly longer, more expensive routes.

The four Arab states that imposed a boycott on Qatar have issued an ultimatum to Doha to close Al Jazeera television, curb ties with Iran, shut a Turkish base and pay reparations. It appears compliance would be difficult with the far-reaching demands.

A decision on Friday by the Montreal-headquartered ICAO to hold the briefing next week follows concerns by Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al-Baker, who recently suggested the UN agency was not working quickly enough to resolve the dispute.

By contrast, Al Sulaiti said he trusted ICAO to find a solution to the dispute, and “take action very quickly.”

ICAO’s 36-state governing council can act to settle the overflights row presented by Qatar, but such interventions are rare and time-consuming because the specialized UN agency usually negotiates disputes diplomatically through consensus.

ICAO cannot impose rules on states, but regulators from its 191-member countries almost always adopt and enforce its international aviation standards.

Qatar has asked ICAO to use a dispute resolution mechanism in the Chicago Convention, a 1944 treaty that created the agency and set rules for international aviation.

Article 84 says that if two states cannot resolve a dispute related to the convention through negotiation, one can ask the council to settle it, although the process is long.

It took years to resolve a dispute in the late 1990s between Cuba and the United States, which would not allow Cuban carriers to fly through US airspace on the way to Canada because of Washington’s economic embargo on Cuba, said Armand de Mestral, a professor emeritus of international law at McGill University.

Cuba was eventually allowed to resume flights with restrictions, a precedent that would bolster Qatar’s case, he said.

Meanwhile, Turkish exports to Qatar have tripled from their normal levels to $32.5 million since four Arab countries began boycotting the Gulf state on June 5, Turkey’s Customs and Trade Minister Bulent Tufenkci said late on Thursday.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Egypt and Bahrain accuse Qatar of funding terrorism, fomenting regional instability and cosying up to revolutionary theocracy Iran. Qatar has denied the accusations.

They have sent Doha a list of 13 demands including closing Al Jazeera television, reducing ties to their regional adversary Iran and closing a Turkish military base in Qatar, an official of one of the four countries told Reuters.

Turkey, which has long tried to play the role of regional mediator, has backed Qatar in the dispute but is also wary of upsetting its other allies, including Saudi Arabia.

“Since June 5 exports to Qatar have amounted to $32.5 million. Of this $12.5 million is food. This figure is three times the normal level,” Tufenkci told reporters at a Ramadan fastbreaking dinner on Thursday evening.

Turkey has sent more than 100 cargo planes of supplies to Qatar but Economy Minister Nihat Zeybekci has said it was not sustainable to maintain supplies through an air lift.

On Thursday, Turkey sent its first ship carrying food to Qatar and dispatched a small contingent of soldiers and armoured vehicles there, while President Tayyip Erdogan spoke with Saudi Arabia’s leaders on calming tension in the region.

Turkey fast-tracked legislation on June 7 to allow more troops to be deployed to a military base in Qatar that houses Turkish soldiers under an agreement signed in 2014.