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News ID: 85060
Publish Date : 04 December 2020 - 21:03

Riyadh, Doha Set to Sign Deal to End Crisis: Reports

DOHA (Dispatches) – Saudi Arabia and Qatar are close to signing a preliminary agreement to resolve bilateral disputes and the prolonged Persian Gulf crisis that has lasted for over three years, the Bloomberg news agency has reported, citing sources familiar with the talks.
The agreement is likely to include the reopening of air and land borders, an end to the information war between Riyadh and Doha, as well as other steps to promote confidence as part of a plan to gradually restore relations, the sources said, adding that a potential breakthrough is due to occur after months of "intense diplomacy mediated by Kuwait”.
The news agency reported that the deal will not involve the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt. Diplomats and analysts told the news outlet that Abu Dhabi, unlike Riyadh, was reluctant to rebuild its ties with Doha.
Qatar’s foreign minister said on Friday that there had been "some movements” to resolve the Persian Gulf crisis.
Saudi Arabia led its allies -- the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt -- to cut ties with Qatar in 2017, accusing it of backing radical movements. Doha has denied the accusation.
"We have achieved certain progress at a certain point of time more than a year ago, and then things have slowed,” Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said at the Mediterranean Dialogues forum in Rome.
"Right now, there are some movements that we hope will put an end (to) this crisis,” he said without giving details.
"We believe that Persian Gulf unity is very important for the security of the region. This needless crisis needs to end based on mutual respect.”
Qatar has repeatedly said it is open to talks without preconditions, though has not signaled publicly it would compromise on the 13 demands of the boycotting countries.
Past mediation efforts led by Kuwait have yielded no results.
In December 2019, Sheikh Abdulrahman said there had been "some progress” in talks with Saudi Arabia.
He later in February revealed that the talks were suspended a month earlier, but said Doha "remains open if there are any benign efforts to resolve the issue”.