Egypt's President to visit to Qatar for first time

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
12 Sep 2022 23:45

Egyptian President Abdelfattah El Sisi is scheduled to stay in Doha for two days during the trip that will see him meet Amir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani.

A 2015 file picture shows Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi walking alongside Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani upon the latter’s arrival at the Sharm el-Sheikh Red Sea resort ahead of the Arab League summit

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is to visit Qatar on Tuesday for the first time since a four-year rift between Cairo and Doha, the royal palace announced.

The Qatari palace said on Twitter that Sisi would meet with the energy-rich Gulf state's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, on a visit that the official news agency QNA described as marking "a new era in relations" between the two Arab countries.

#قنا_انفوجرافيك |
سفير #قطر لدى #مصر : زيارة فخامة الرئيس المصري لقطر تعكس العلاقات المتميزة بين البلدين #قنا https://t.co/5ymgdAy8kR pic.twitter.com/MMSVATgMHT
— وكالة الأنباء القطرية (@QatarNewsAgency) September 12, 2022

The emir visited Cairo in June when Qatari investments in cash-strapped Egypt were on the agenda, as well as cooperation in the energy and agriculture sectors.

In late March, Cairo said Qatar planned to invest five billion dollars in Egypt, while hydrocarbon giant QatarEnergy announced an agreement with US major ExxonMobil to acquire a 40-percent stake in a gas exploration block off Egypt in the Mediterranean.

Relations between Egypt and Qatar became tense after the removal of the late Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, a leader in the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, then Egypt joined Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain in the decision to cut ties with Qatar on June 5, 2017, accusing it of "supporting terrorism." Which Doha denied.

In 2017, a blockade was imposed on Qatar on the part of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, UAE, and Egypt.

In early January of last year, the four boycotting countries and Qatar signed an agreement in the Saudi city of Al-Ula, according to which the establishment was established to resolve the differences that lasted more than three years.

The Egyptian-Qatari relations began to take a noticeable positive turn, as the Qatari Foreign Minister, Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, during his visit to Cairo on May 25, 2021, handed over an invitation from the Emir of Qatar to President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to visit Doha.

The Egyptian President also met the Emir of Qatar, last year, on the sidelines of the Baghdad Conference for Cooperation and Partnership, in the first meeting between them since the outbreak of the Gulf crisis in 2017.