Gulf leaders are meeting in Saudi Arabia for their annual summit on Tuesday amid a breakthrough in the long-running dispute between a Saudi-led bloc and Qatar.
Saudi Arabia on Monday announced the reopening of land borders with Qatar after a three and a half-year spat that saw the kingdom, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain cut diplomatic and trade ties and impose a land, sea and air blockade on the Gulf state.
The quartet accused Doha of, among other things, supporting terrorist groups and being too close to Iran, allegations that Qatar has consistently denied.
While the Saudi decision marks a major milestone towards resolving the Gulf crisis, the path to full reconciliation is far from guaranteed. The rift between Abu Dhabi and Doha has been deepest, with the UAE and Qatar at sharp ideological odds.
Saudi meeting prelude to wider talks
Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from Doha, said Tuesday’s GCC summit will likely set the tone for wider talks that would take place in the short to medium term to resolve other outstanding issues.“It is a crucial gathering because this when they will have to start talking about some of the elements and the agreement they are about to announce and also about what they will be doing in the immediate future,” Ahelbarra said.
“For the announcement to happen, the Saudis will be having talks with the Emiratis, the Bahrainis and the Egyptians who were part of the blockading quartet.”
“They will have to decide on the modalities of the agreement. Later, they will have to say that the core issues are ones that will need some time to solve because we are talking about a wide range of issues that have to do with the region and other parts of the world.”
Calm at Qatar-Saudi border crossing as regional meeting gets underway
The Abu Samra border crossing between Saudi Arabia and Qatar was quiet on Tuesday morning as a summit of the regional Gulf Cooperation Council got underway.
“It’s still quiet at the border. No facilities have been set up yet for dealing with COVID-requirements – temperature check and testing,” said Al Jazeera’s Sorin Furcoi, reporting from Abu Samra.
“People are still coming to the border point to inquire as to whether they can actually across but according to officials, there still hasn’t been any crossing on either side.”