CAIRO: Foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain will meet in Cairo Wednesday to discuss the Qatari crisis, an Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Monday.
The meeting comes within the context of coordinating stances on future steps taken to deal with Qatar, as well as exchanging viewpoints and evaluating international and regional contacts, said Ahmad Abu Zeid, Egypt Foreign Ministry’s official spokesperson.
Egypt has recently joined the Gulf countries of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain in imposing curbs on Qatar, accusing the latter of sheltering members of terrorist organisations and interfering in other countries’ domestic affairs.
Egypt’s administration, led by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, is at odds with Qatar which has allegedly supported and hosted fleeing members of the Muslim Brotherhood group, an organisation blacklisted by the Egyptian government.
The Brotherhood supports former Islamist President Mohammad Mursi, who was toppled in July 2013 in response to mass protests.
On June 27, the four Arab countries issued a list of 13 demands to end their rift with Doha. Some of the demands include closing of the Al-Jazeera television channel and cutting off diplomatic ties with Iran.
The deadline for Qatar’s response to the demands has ended Sunday. The four Arab countries later announced in a joint statement an extension of the deadline by 48 hours in response to the request of Kuwait.
