Egypt, Qatar ink cooperation pacts in sign of improving ties

Cairo: Egypt and Qatar have signed cooperation accords amid improving ties between the two Arab countries after tensions of more than three years.

A follow-up committee from the two countries met Tuesday in the Qatari capital Doha resulting in signing a number of bilateral memorandums of understanding, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said.

They included memorandums in the postal services and civil aviation.

“This step comes within the framework of consolidating relations between the two countries and working to push them forward,” the ministry added in an online statement.

The follow-up committee was co-chaired by Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister Yassir Othman and Qatari envoy to the Foreign Minister for Regional Affairs Ali Al Hajiri.

Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi and Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad last moth met in Baghdad on the sidelines of a regional conference and agreed to promote ties between their countries.

In July, Emir Tamim appointed an ambassador to Egypt, a month after Al Sissi named an envoy to Doha as part of an agreement to restore diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In June, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shukry visited Qatar, the first visit by such a senior Egyptian official to Doha since the two countries restored diplomatic ties earlier this year.

In January, Egypt signed a declaration at a Gulf summit held in the Saudi city of AlUla ending a dispute between Qatar and a Saudi-led bloc including Cairo.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt had severed diplomatic and transportation links with Qatar in mid-2017.