Manama: Saudi Arabia has set up an operation room to oversee all matters related to Qatari pilgrims and visitors in the kingdom.
The operation room, authorised by King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, will be managed by a Qatari member of the ruling family, Shaikh Abdullah Bin Ali Al Thani, and staffed by Saudi nationals.
Shaikh Abdullah’s meeting last week with Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman paved the way for easing restrictions on Qataris planning to perform Haj.
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King Salman, upon recommendations from Prince Mohammad, gave orders to the Saudi authorities to allow Qataris to drive through the Salwa border crossing and to fly at the king’s expense from the airports of Ahsa and Dammam in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province. King Salman also ordered the dispatching of Saudi Airlines planes to Doha to transport Qatari pilgrims for free to Jeddah, the closest airport to Makkah where the Haj rituals are held annually.
Following the decisions, King Salman received Shaikh Abdullah and discussed the issue of Qatari pilgrims.
“I am grateful to King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammad for their gracious hospitality and their generous responses,” Shaikh Abdullah said. “Their keenness on the interests of the people of Qatar prompted me to request a hotline to ease the travel of Qataris to their families or to their properties in Saudi Arabia. I call upon all Qataris who have any kind of request to call 00966 122367999.”
Shaikh Abdullah added that the governor of the Saudi central bank denied allegations that the Qatari riyal was no longer traded in Saudi Arabia and assured him that there were no measures against it and that the currency was accepted in the kingdom.
Saudi Arabia on June 5 severed its diplomatic and trade relations with Qatar and closed the Salwa border crossing, the only terrestrial link between the two neighbours.
Qataris were not allowed into Saudi Arabia, but the measure did not include those planning to perform Umrah or Haj.
Head of customs at Salwa border crossing, Othman Al Gamdi, told Saudi daily Okaz that more than 200 Qatari pilgrims had crossed into the kingdom in the first hours of the re-opening.
“We recorded 350 vehicles, including 50 used by pilgrims and 300 by mixed Saudi-Qatari families,” he was quoted as saying. “There are instructions to facilitate the procedures for all Qatari pilgrims to ensure their smooth passage. There is a high level of coordination between all government departments at the crossing to serve the guests of God.”
