DOHA (Dispatches) – Iran and Qatar signed several bilateral cooperation deals on Monday during a visit by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to Doha that he said he hoped would help improve ties with other Persian Gulf Arab states.
“We believe that the level of existing cooperation between the countries of the region is not commensurate with potential ties,” Raisi said in joint remarks with Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
“Iran seeks to enhance these relations as our goal is regional convergence,” said the Iranian president, who will attend a gas exporters’ summit in Doha on Tuesday.
Raisi’s visit is the first to Qatar by an Iranian president in 11 years. Earlier, Qatar and Iran signed 14 memoranda of understanding in the fields of aviation, trade, shipping, media, cancellation of visa requirements, electricity, standards, education and culture.
“We have today expanded our cooperation in the fields of the economy, energy, infrastructure, culture and food security,” Raisi said.
“We view this visit as a step towards activating diplomacy with neighbors, especially Persian Gulf countries, and to use their capacities to develop political and economic ties,” Raisi said before departing Tehran for Doha early Monday.
He said Iran was “seeking change in regional relations” around cooperation and interaction.
The Iranian president traveled to Qatar with five Cabinet ministers, including the foreign and energy ministers.
According to Iran’s roads and transport minister, Rostam Qasemi, four agreements would be signed between the two countries.
Two of the other agreements deal with shipping and boosting maritime trade while the fourth one relates to improving air travel between the two countries.
Qatar has good ties with Iran, with which it shares a giant gas field. Tehran supported Doha after Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies imposed a boycott on Qatar in mid-2017.
The Persian Gulf row was resolved early last year and Saudi Arabia has been engaging with Tehran in a bid to contain tensions.
Qatar’s emir said in the joint remarks that his country was ready to do what it can to help bring an agreeable solution between Iran and the major parties at talks in Vienna to salvage the nuclear deal, which Washington pulled out of in 2018.
The tiny nation of Qatar, which lies on the eastern side of the Arabian Peninsula and has only one land border to Saudi Arabia, is among the world’s largest suppliers of liquefied natural gas.
Iran’s petroleum minister said on Monday that unilateral sanctions against members of the gas forum threaten global energy security and that Iran provided the best option for gas exports to east and west.
Qatar’s foreign minister, who reportedly met with his Iranian counterpart on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, visited Tehran last month.
Iran has faced gas shortages at home because of record high consumption, particularly for winter household heating, and has had to cut supplies to cement plants and other industries.
Raisi and the Qatari emir will be joined at Tuesday’s summit by Algeria’s President Abdelmadjid Tebboune and Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Keith Rowley. Energy ministers from the other seven forum members who include Russia will also take part.
Ministers from the 11-member group were to meet later Monday to approve a summit statement that industry analysts predicted would touch on the lack of spare supplies that could help Europe, where consumers are already paying record prices for gas.
Qatar and other countries have insisted that massive investment is needed in gas, and that they need the certainty of long-term contracts to be able to guarantee supplies to Europe.
The European Union has long resisted the 10, 15 and 20-year contracts signed by other major customers for Qatar’s gas, who include China, Japan and South Korea.
The United States has asked Qatar to help Europe by preparing emergency supplies if the Ukraine crisis erupts.
The forum, which comes as a growing number of nations pledge to shift towards renewable energy and reduce carbon emissions, represents nations that hold 70% of the world’s proven gas reserves. In addition to Qatar and Iran, the forum includes Russia, Egypt, Libya, Nigeria, Algeria, Bolivia, Equatorial Guinea, Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela, in addition to the seven observer countries of Angola, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Malaysia, Norway, Peru and the United Arab Emirates