Gulf Co-operation Council leaders to meet in Kuwait City today for bloc’s annual summit
The GCC summit will take place in Kuwait City today and tomorrow, despite the Qatar crisis. Gulf foreign ministers, including Qatar’s, yesterday met at Bayan Palace to pave the way for the heads of state meeting.
Kuwaiti foreign minister Sheikh Sabah Al Khaled yesterday suggested the Qatar dispute would be on the agenda.
The ministers’ meeting was the highest-level direct contact the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain have had with Qatar since they imposed a boycott on their fellow GCC state on June 5 over its support of terrorism and extremist groups.
Sheikh Sabah Al Khaled used the meeting to lay the groundwork for a possible resolution, warning the ministers that the integrity of the GCC cannot be compromised, sources said.
Oman’s minister of state for foreign affairs, Yussef bin Alawi, whose country has remained neutral in the dispute, sat between Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed Al Thani and his Saudi equal, Adel Al Jubeir.
Recent messages sent to the Kuwaiti capital are believed to be confirmations of attendance for the summit, which had been in doubt because of the dispute.
The first session, behind closed doors, will take place at Bayan Palace today at 5.30pm, after which the leaders will attend an official dinner hosted by the Kuwaiti emir, Sheikh Sabah.
Tomorrow, the leaders are expected to convene for the second closed session at 11.30am.
The Kuwaiti foreign minister
and Abdullatif Al Zayani, secretary general of the GCC, are due to make a statement at 12.30pm.
Kuwait’s monarch, 88, was pivotal in resolving a similar dispute between the three countries and Qatar in 2014.
Leaders from Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain are in large part attending the summit to ensure Kuwati’s hosting of the summit is successful, and in line with the GCC’s 36-year history.
The Qatar crisis was not officially on the agenda and a resolution seemed unlikely as Qatar has not responded to the demands of the boycotting countries.
But while Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim is reportedly attending, it was not clear who would represent Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain.
Kuwait’s traffic authority said most major roads from the airport to the meeting venue would be closed this morning, suggesting the arrival of heads of state.
Security forces in Kuwait are on standby, and heavily armed soldiers were guarding Bayan Palace and the Jumeirah Hotel, where many delegates are staying.
Dr Anwar Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said yesterday that he was happy to be in Kuwait.
“Happy to be in the brotherly country of Kuwait, the land of Al Sabah and of authentic and loyal people,” he said on Twitter. “Kuwait remains dear to the heart of every Emirati forever and always.”
The GCC comprises Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and Qatar and was formed in 1981, just two years after Iran’s Islamic Revolution.