DOHA (Dispatches) – Qatar has signed a 5-billion-euro deal with Italy for seven warships amid a nearly two-month diplomatic row with Saudi Arabia and its regional allies.
Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani made the announcement on Wednesday at a joint news conference with his visiting Italian counterpart Angelino Alfano in Doha.
"We have signed a contract on behalf of the Qatari navy to acquire seven warships from Italy for five billion euros ($5.9 billion)," media outlets quoted the Qatari minister as saying.
He gave no further details and did not name the companies involved.
In June last year, Italy's state-controlled shipbuilder Fincantieri said it had signed an agreement to build ships for Qatar.
At the time, Fincantieri said it would supply the Persian Gulf state with four corvette warships, two support vessels and an amphibious landing platform dock. The company also pledged support services in Qatar for 15 years after delivery.
A company official said at the time that Italian defense company Leonardo would supply electronics and weapons systems for the ships and receive about a third of the value of the deal.
The so-called quartet of states, known as the siege countries led by Saudi Arabia, have said they have no concessions or compromises to make over their list of demands that requires Qatar to change its policies, including Doha’s alleged support for terrorism, as an unprecedented diplomatic rift further deepens in the Persian Gulf region.
The widening rift occurred on June 5, when Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, and the United Arab Emirates severed ties with Doha, officially accusing Qatar of supporting "terrorism” and destabilizing the Middle East, allegations that Qatar says are unjustified and stem from false claims and assumptions.
In another development, Qatar says it is reportedly set to hold joint naval exercises with Turkey in the Persian Gulf waters as part of joint efforts to fight terrorism in the region.
The Qatari Defense Ministry said the Turkish warship TCG Gokova had docked at Hamad Port to take part in the drills, the Doha-based al-Sharq newspaper reported, without giving a date.
The most advanced Turkish military vessel will also join the maneuvers, the report added.
The naval exercises will be held in the framework of military cooperation between Ankara and Doha to combat terrorism, according to the report.
 Meanwhile, Qatar has lodged a formal legal complaint with the World Trade Organization over the trade boycott, formally "requesting consultations” with the trio, as the unprecedented diplomatic rift further deepens in the Persian Gulf region.  
Qatar's WTO representative Ali Alwaleed Al Thani announced the news, adding that the consultation request was meant to "discuss and clarify the legality” of those measures against Doha and to "find a way to bring them into conformity with their commitments.”
By making the official request, Qatar triggered a two-month deadline for the Persian Gulf states to resolve the protest or to face litigation at the WTO and to impose on them potential trade sanctions in a tit-for-tat move.