United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar have reopened their embassies in each other’s capital following an agreement to restore diplomatic ties, according to Qatar’s foreign ministry.
In June 2017, Arab countries, including UAE, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Bahrain severed diplomatic with Qatar, which marked the beginning of the Gulf dispute.
The four countries accused Qatar of supporting an extremist organization, the Muslim Brotherhood, in Egypt and also of having economic ties with Iran.
The Qatari ministry issued a statement on Monday, confirming that foreign ministers of both countries, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman and Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed, had a discussion on a phone call, as both countries reopened their embassies.
In March this year, UAE also unblocked several Qatari news websites, including Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera English, New Arab, Qatar News Agency, and several others.
A Middle Eastern news agency, Al-Monitor, verified that the UAE residents were able to access these sites. However, it was reported back then that Doha News and the Middle East Eye were still blocked in UAE.
It is worth mentioning here that Riyadh and Cairo were the first to reappoint ambassadors to Doha two years back. Meanwhile, Bahrain’s course of action is yet to be revealed.
This important development followed the restoration of ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia under the mediation of China. Both countries agreed to end the years of bitter relations that compromised regional stability and triggered the Yemen war.
