MUSCAT: On behalf of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, His Highness Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmood al Said, Deputy Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers will leave on Tuesday for Kuwait to lead the Sultanate’s delegation at the 38th GCC Summit due to be held in Kuwait City during December 5 and 6.
The participation stems from a belief of the Sultanate led by His Majesty on the importance of meetings that bring together the brothers to discuss all that could boost the GCC march and further fulfil the hopes and aspirations of the peoples of the GCC states.
HH Sayyid Fahd is accompanied by Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdallah, Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs, Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed al Futaisi, Minister of Transport and Communications, Dr Abdullah bin Mohammed al Saeedi, Minister of Legal Affairs and a number of government officials.
Gulf foreign ministers gathered on Monday in Kuwait on the eve of an annual summit bringing together Qatar and its feuding neighbours despite little hope for an end to the bitter rift.
Qatari Emir Shaikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani will be at the summit, but less than 24 hours before it was due to begin it was still unclear whether the rulers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain would also attend.
Those three Gulf states, together with Egypt, cut all ties with Qatar on June 5. Mediation efforts led by Kuwait have failed to resolve what is the worst crisis to hit the Gulf Cooperation Council in its 36-year history, casting serious doubts over the future of the six-state alliance.
As Kuwait readied to host the two-day GCC summit, analysts said its efforts to bring about a peaceful end to the crisis may be at a complete standstill. “The crisis is too deep and very complicated... I don’t think it will be resolved during the summit,” said independent Kuwaiti political analyst Saleh al Saeedi.
“But I think Kuwait hopes to at least freeze the dispute, stop its deterioration and move on to the next step.”
Founded in 1981, the GCC is a political and economic union grouping Qatar with Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates as well as Oman and Kuwait.
The other GCC states have yet to announce who they would be sending, although some Kuwaiti media have reported Saudi King Salman may attend.
On Monday, the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Qatar attended round-table talks ahead of the gathering, in their first such encounter since the diplomatic crisis erupted in June.
Oman’s Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdallah sat between them at the meeting which the foreign ministers of the UAE, Bahrain and Kuwait also attended.— ONA/AFP
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