MOSCOW (Dispatches) – All members of the Cooperation Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (P)GCC, including Qatar, will attend the upcoming summit in Riyadh in December, local media reported, citing Kuwaiti Deputy Foreign Minister Khalid al-Jarallah.
The deputy foreign minister also expressed hope that the upcoming meeting will help to ease tensions on the peninsula as Kuwait has long been trying to mediate the crisis, according to the Al-Khaleej media outlet.
Last year, a two-day (P)GCC summit ended within hours of its start in Kuwait without any progress being made on the Qatar diplomatic row. Leaders of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) refused to visit the summit because of their tense relations with Qatar. Instead, the states were represented at the level of foreign or deputy prime ministers.
Qatar has been under a diplomatic and economic blockade since last June, when the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain cut off diplomatic relations and communication with Doha, accusing it of supporting terrorism and interfering in their internal affairs. Qatar has refuted the allegations.
Kuwait’s deputy foreign minister, Khalid al-Jarallah, expressed optimism that this year’s summit will see a high level of representation from all member states.
"This summit is a glimpse of hope to revive the efforts of containing the long-standing (Persian) Gulf dispute”, al-Jarallah said.