Qatar Foreign Minister Says Doha, Riyadh In Talks 1st Time Since Start Of Blockade In 2017

Qatar Foreign Minister Says Doha, Riyadh in Talks 1st Time Since Start of Blockade in 2017

Qatar is in talks with Saudi Arabia to restore relations broken more than two and a half years ago, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani said on Friday

DOHA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 07th December, 2019) Qatar is in talks with Saudi Arabia to restore relations broken more than two and a half years ago, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani said on Friday.

"Negotiations are ongoing with our brothers in Saudi Arabia, and we hope that they will lead to positive results," Al Thani told Qatari state broadcaster Al Jazeera.

He said that the parties had succeeded in moving from a dead end in the crisis around Qatar to talking about a future vision of a relationship. At the same time, he said, negotiations are not conducted around 13 demands to Doha made by Saudi Arabia and its three allies, including the closure of Al Jazeera.

The minister stressed that Qatar was pursuing an independent policy, and its "internal affairs will not be the subject of negotiations with any parties."

Qatar has been under a diplomatic and economic blockade since June 2017 when the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain, among others, cut off diplomatic relations and communication with Doha, accusing it of supporting terrorism and interfering in their internal affairs. Qatar has repeatedly denied all the charges related to terrorism, saying that the campaign against the country was simply "based on lies."