As expected in recent months, on January 4, 2021, Saudi Arabia declared its intention to end its feud with neighboring Qatar after three and a half years of broken and turbulent relations, including the severance of diplomatic relations between other GCC members. Riyadh quickly opened its airspace and land and sea borders with Doha, and followed with a formal agreement that ended the blockade. Clearly, the GCC crisis has exhausted its benefits for both sides of the regional conflict, allowing Kuwait`s unwavering diplomacy and mediation to finally achieve the elusive reconciliation it has been pursuing since the beginning of the crisis. Strengthen governance, transparency, accountability, integrity and anti-corruption mechanisms through joint actions in the Gulf and in all GCC facilities, including its specialized offices. In addition to the G20 Framework and the “Riyadh Initiative” agreements on cooperation in the investigation and prosecution of cross-border corruption to mitigate the impact of corruption on economic growth, sustainable development and mutual trust between governments and their peoples. The Royal Commission of al-`Ula has signed a partnership agreement with the Ferrandi-Paris school to offer cooking classes to ALUla chefs. The trained chefs will then work during the Tantourah Winter Festival to serve the guests. [6] In February, the first official meeting between the Qatari and Egyptian delegations took place in Kuwait, as well as separate bilateral talks between Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The meetings focused on confidence-building measures and ways to improve bilateral relations. In March, Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Cairo at an Arab League meeting. Few details were released in official statements and press conferences, but the Qatari foreign minister said: “We in the State of Qatar and the brothers in Egypt see things positively and strive to restore cordial relations.” More recently, the Qatari emir called Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi to express his Ramadan greetings – the first contact between the two leaders since the signing of the Al-Ula agreement in January. Now that the agreement is in force, companies should consider reviewing their current contractual obligations and how they would be affected by the elimination of embargo-related disruptions. Companies that have postponed tenders for projects in a particular GCC country due to political concerns may also re-examine the possibilities of tendering in those countries.

“The agreement and reconciliation reached at the historic GCC summit in Al Ula aim to further strengthen cooperation between its nations and create a more unified geostrategic bloc better equipped to deal with regional threats and challenges,” said Abdullah Al Saud, visiting researcher at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence at King`s College London. said The National. Officials at the al-Ula summit signed a reconciliation agreement on “solidarity and stability” that ended the blockade of Qatar and restored diplomatic relations between Qatari countries and the Quartet of boycotting countries. Little has been announced about the fate of the 13 applications in Qatar, but it is believed that they are no longer the reason for the break that has been going on for three and a half years. It remains to be seen whether future developments and possible disagreements between the former parties to the dispute will support or hinder the causes of peace, stability and cooperation among GCC members. For now, an agreement to end the 2017 crisis is a step in the right direction. On January 5, at the 41st GCC summit in Saudi Arabia`s ancient city of AlUla, the kingdom – along with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt – signed an agreement to restore relations with Qatar and end the dispute in the region. The agreement includes two programs, the first steps in a long-term strategy. Saudi Arabia will implement a two-year partnership under UNESCO`s Memory of the World programme to promote written heritage in the Arab world and the petroglyph-rich country for humans and animals. The Saudis will also support five eight-month fellowships for young archaeologists, starting in March 2022. The province says it has already awarded more than 400 scholarships abroad to students in agronomy and sustainable development and even to chefs sent to a Parisian cooking school. Other future programmes with UNESCO will focus on the establishment of biosphere reserves, geological parks (geoparks) and the inscription of intangible heritage traditions.

Budgets for these have not yet been announced. In September, ucR signed another far-reaching agreement with an NGO, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The Al-Ula agreement also calls for greater economic integration of the GCC and better coordination of the security and foreign policies of its member states. According to the declaration, the signatories will commit to “the completion of economic integration, the implementation of common defence and security systems and a single foreign policy for member states”. The most independent member states such as Qatar, Oman and Kuwait may find it difficult to reconcile their foreign policy with Saudi Arabia, as they have historically diverged on important issues such as the nature of their relations with Iran. There is plenty of room for improved economic integration and coordination of foreign policy priorities, but the vision of the agreement seems to reflect Saudi-centric priorities, which is likely to cause problems for other member states. For example, the agreement calls for the “full implementation of the vision presented by Saudi Arabia hosting the GCC summit in December 2015,” including “a unified foreign policy for member states.” Just because there is renewed cooperation between Qatar and Saudi Arabia does not mean that Qatar, for example, will fully implement its ambition to align its foreign policy with all GCC member states or adopt a Saudi policy to combat and isolate Iran, nor is it likely that Qatar will restrict its relations with Turkey. Tensions may still exist between Qatar and the UAE over Doha`s ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist actors in the region, as well as over proxy competition in struggling arenas such as Libya and Somalia, as well as in regions such as the Horn of Africa and North Africa in general. The rivalry between the UAE and Turkey is expected to continue to be a point of friction between the UAE and Qatar as Turkey`s key regional ally.

The Gulf crisis lost its justification a long time ago. It has remained in a de facto impasse in which there is no escalation or solution. What prompted the recent Gulf summit to formally resolve this crisis was a postponement of Saudi leaders` calculations in light of Joe Biden`s election victory in November. This reconciliation reflects previous attempts to resolve Gulf disputes, where elements of the agreements remain unclear and ambiguous, sowing the seeds for the emergence of future crises. At the same time, the Gulf Cooperation Council does not appear to have a robust mechanism for resolving internal disputes and does not pursue a coherent regional strategy. Restoring trust takes time and commitment to address the root causes of this crisis. Overall, Qatar`s regional relations and foreign policy have not been able to change significantly as a result of the Al-Ula agreement. Doha should continue to seek to maintain an independent foreign policy and engage in regional balance to secure its strategic priorities, while seeking to implement the agreement to reduce tensions with its neighbors. The agreement appears to have eased tensions, but it has left many questions unanswered and many points of contention between gulf states unresolved. Reports of a GCC reconciliation ending the Saudi-Emirati-Bahraini-Egyptian blockade of Qatar in exchange for Qatar`s agreement to freeze its claims for damages from the blockade have left many observers scratching their heads. .