Qatari Emir pays Egypt first official visit in 7 years

CAIRO- 24 June 2022: For the first time in seven years, Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani will arrive in Cairo on Friday on an official visit, announced the Qatari Amiri Diwan in a statement.

Tamim left, on Friday, Kigali after participating in the 2022 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM 2022) held in Rwanda, heading for Cairo, the statement said.

سمو الأمير المفدى يغادر مدينة كيغالي بعد مشاركته في اجتماع رؤساء حكومات الكومنولث الـ26 الذي عقد بجمهورية رواندا الصديقة، متوجها إلى مدينة القاهرة في زيارة رسمية إلى جمهورية مصر العربية الشقيقة. https://t.co/nKAFWfPm3N

— الديوان الأميري (@AmiriDiwan) June 24, 2022

On June 15, 2021, President Sisi sent an invitation to Prince Tamim to visit Egypt at the earliest opportunity, according to a statement by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The invitation was sent by Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Doha.

The last visit to Egypt by the Emir of Qatar was in 2015, according to Reuters.

On February 5, 2022, both leaders met on the sidelines of the opening ceremony of the 24th Winter Olympics Beijing. They also had met on 28 August 2021 for the first time in more than four years since severing ties between Egypt and Qatar in 2017 on the sidelines of the “Baghdad Cooperation and Partnership’ conference.

On June 5, 2017, Egypt and three other Gulf States (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain) decided to cut ties with the oil-rich state of Qatar over accusations of funding terrorism and harboring extremists and wanted-terrorists; charges which Qatar has denied. Early January 2021, the Arab countries ended their boycott with Qatar, after signing Al Ola Agreement at the 41st Summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

In June 2021, President Sisi appointed Amr El-Sherbini as ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to Qatar, while the Qatari Emir appointed Salem bin Mubarak bin Shafi Al Shafi as an Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Arab Republic of Egypt in July 2021.