Egypt’s stability is vital to the region: Qatari FM

CAIRO - 25 January 2018: Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al-Thani said that Doha aims to improve relations with Cairo.

Thani said, during the four-day World Economic Forum (WEF) 2018, that Qatar supports Egypt’s stability. “Those who said that Qatar is trying to destabilize Egypt are making false allegations,” Thani said. Despite several cases revealed by Egyptian's security that proves Qatar's involvement in providing financial support to terrorist groups in Egypt.

Regretting the currently severed relations between Egypt and Qatar, Thani said that Qatar usually hopes to “bridge the gap” with Egypt, RT reported.

“Stability in Egypt is vital to the region,” Thani stated. “From an Economic perspective, we have ongoing investments in Egypt. It is a priority to [find] a proper environment for our investments,” he added.

MP Ibrahim al-Qassas, a member of the Defense and National Security Committee, responded to Thani’s statement saying that “a family that is used to betrayal cannot be trusted.”

“The Qatari announcement aims to divide the Arab quartet who severed relations with Qatar,” Qassas told Veto, adding that Qatar cannot be trusted until it meets all the demands of the quartet.

Tarek Fahmi, professor of political science in Cairo University said on Wednesday that Qatar is only trying to ease the stress with the Arab quartet, without verifying their words with actions.

In an interview with TV presenter Amr Adib, Fahmi said that Qatar is still supporting terrorism and that it did not show any good intentions in the last meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

Since June 5, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates have severed their relations with Qatar, accusing it of sponsoring terrorism.

Although Kuwait has played the role of mediator in the Arab Quartet-Qatar fallout, Fahmi said that Kuwait and the countries of the world stopped mediating.

During his speech at the Nixon Center in Washington in November 2017, Thani said that Egypt’s stability and security is an integral part of Qatar's interest, denying the Qatari regime's responsibility for cutting relations with Egypt, Sputnik reported.