Qatar: Arab states don’t want talks

‘Blockading countries are not responding to any efforts,’ foreign minister says

DOHA (Reuters) – Qatar’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that his country is willing to negotiate an end to a Gulf diplomatic rift but had seen no sign that Saudi Arabia and other countries imposing sanctions on Doha are open to mediation.

Kuwait and the United States are trying to heal a bitter dispute between Qatar and four Arab countries that has damaged business ties and disrupted travel for thousands of citizens in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council.

Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Emirates severed political and trade ties with the small gasrich country on June 4, accusing it of supporting terrorism.

A visit this week to the UAE and Qatar by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov showed no signs of having eased tensions among the Gulf Arab powers.

“Qatar maintains its position that this crisis can only be achieved through a constructive dialogue..., but the blockading countries are not responding to any efforts being conducted by Kuwait or other friendly countries,” Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdulrahman al-Thani told reporters in Doha on Wednesday at a news conference with his Russian counterpart.

The UAE’s ambassador to the United States, Yousef al-Otaiba, in an interview with US-based magazine The Atlantic on Monday, said his country would negotiate with Qatar so long as Doha did not set any preconditions for talks.

Sheikh Muhammad said on Wednesday Qatar planned to bolster trade with Russia, one of the world’s biggest gas exporters, and that Qatar could no longer rely on neighboring states to support its economy or guarantee food security.