GCC summit to be held in Riyadh on December 9
Should Qatari emir show up, it would be his first visit to Riyadh since June 2017
Qatar is set to attend a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in Saudi Arabia on December 9.
Kuwait’s Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid Al Jarallah said all member states would attend the summit in Riyadh.
However, what’s not yet clear is the level of representation — something normally decided shortly before the meeting.
One senior official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the news was encouraging. He hoped that representation would be at the highest level, reflecting a desire to ensure the bloc’s survival in its current form.
“The ministerial committees have been meeting in Kuwait [to] ensure that the GCC mechanism is maintained and remains effective,” he said. “The forthcoming summit represents a ray of hope in reviving the efforts aimed at containing the Gulf dispute.”
Should Qatar be represented by its Emir, it would be Shaikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani’s first visit to Riyadh since June 5, 2017, when Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and Egypt severed their diplomatic ties and transport and travel links.
The quartet accused Qatar of supporting extremists and funding terrorism and issued Doha with a list of demands that it should meet before relations could be restored.
Established in 1981, the bloc is made up of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Qatar, however, rejected the accusations and dismissed the demands of the quartet. Kuwaiti-led mediation efforts were unsuccessful.
A source quoted by Bahraini daily Al Ayam said: “We look forward to the Riyadh summit opening a new chapter in the relations between the Gulf states, especially as the region is on the verge of escalating developments that require unity of ranks and discourses.
Efforts are in full swing to reach common points that can be built upon to end the Gulf crisis.”
Preliminary discussions
The sources did not rule out the possibility of that preliminary discussions and meetings would be held before the summit “even without announcing them” that would bring together senior officials from various Gulf countries “to draft a deal for the next phase on the basis of frankness and disclosure.”
At last year’s GCC summit that stood long in doubt before it was eventually held on December 5 in Kuwait, Shaikh Tamim was the only head of state, alongside the host Emir Shaikh Subah Al Ahmad, to attend.
The annual gathering, overshadowed by the Qatar crisis, was scheduled to run for two days, but was cut down to one. The final declaration did not refer to the Qatar dispute and stressed the Gulf leaders “were committed to the GCC goals and were convinced that the Council serves their peoples’ hopes and aspirations.”
The communique said the GCC leaders reiterated their support of a proposal by late Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud to transform the Council into a union.