New Saudi envoy takes office in Qatar

Qatar’s foreign minister today received Saudi Arabia’s new ambassador to Doha, the first to be reinstated by Arab states that had agreed to end a row with Qatar earlier this year, state news agency QNA said.

This latest move to end the rift comes after the Qatari General Authority of Customs announced in February that commercial traffic through the Abu Samra border crossing with Saudi Arabia re-opened after nearly four years of closures.

In June 2017, Saudi, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and economic ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorist groups in the region.

The four countries also imposed an embargo on Qatar and issued a long list of demands, including the closure of Doha-based news broadcaster Al Jazeera, under the threat of further sanctions.

Qatar refused to submit, denying charges that it supports terrorism and describing the bloc’s efforts to isolate it as a violation of international law and an infringement of its national sovereignty.

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