DOHA (Al Jazeera) – The Persian Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) says Qatar’s leader has been invited to the bloc’s summit meeting next week amid efforts to heal rifts between Doha and a Saudi-led alliance.
Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani received a formal invitation from Saudi King Salman to the January 5 summit meeting of the six-nation GCC in Saudi Arabia, delivered by GCC Secretary-General Nayef Falah Al-Hajraf.
It is not clear if Sheikh Tamim – who was invited to the last summit but declined, sending then-Prime Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani instead – will attend next month’s summit.
In addition to Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the GCC includes Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
In June 2017, Saudi Arabia and its allies the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed ties with Qatar, saying it was funding "terrorist” groups.
Qatar has repeatedly denied the allegations and said there was "no legitimate justification” for the severance of relations.
After severing ties, the four countries issued a list of 13 demands for Qatar, including that it shut down the Al Jazeera Media Network.
The Saudi-led quartet subsequently forced Qataris living and working in their countries to leave, closed their airspace to Qatari aircraft and sealed their borders and ports, separating some mixed-nationality families.
Sheikh Tamim’s participation would signal an easing of divisions.
Egypt and the UAE have since given their public support to the negotiations, although diplomatic sources say the UAE has been reluctant to compromise.
On Sunday, the foreign ministers of the GCC held a virtual meeting where they discussed "cooperation” ahead of the GCC summit.