Six countries including the main Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) nations met in New York City for the first time since a rift led to a blockade on Qatar 15 months ago.
Friday’s meeting took place on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, and was the first gathering of its kind since Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt severed diplomatic and trade ties with Qatar on June 5, 2017.
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The blockading quartet accuse Qatar of having close ties to regional rival Iran and harbouring “terrorism” – allegations Doha strongly denies.
Al Jazeera’s Hashem Ahelbarra, reporting from New York, said the move was “quite significant” since it was the first time all parties met face to face over the issue.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spearheaded the talks.
“The idea behind this meeting is that the Americans are trying to build some sort of regional alliance called an Arab NATO to contain what the US sees as Iran’s growing influence in the region,” Ahelbarra said.
Among things discussed were the strengthening of military ties, as well as economic and diplomatic relations.
Pompeo said earlier this year during a visit to Saudi Arabia that “Gulf unity is necessary and we need to achieve it”.
‘Productive’ meeting
Immediately after the meeting, Qatar’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told Al Jazeera the talks were “productive”.
“[The meeting was] about the Middle East strategic alliance and the GCC relations with the US, plus Egypt and Jordan,” he said.
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Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said at UNGA earlier this week the blockading nations could wait decades for Doha to meet their controversial list of demands.
When asked for Qatar’s response to the remarks, Sheikh Mohammed replied: “We have to address the challenges in our region first.
“A year from now, no one will know what the future of the countries will be… Qatar can also wait forever,” he added.
“Diplomacy means communication and engagement, and this is Qatar.”
Middle East condundrum
Ahelbarra noted the challenge facing the United States, which wants the parties to agree on a number of regional issues including the conflicts in Syria and Yemen.
“How can you bring together all of these people when they defer on every regional conflict,” Ahelbarra said.
“Unless you have all the parties agree, I don’t see how the Americans can build a regional alliance to contain all the problems in the region,” he said.
The US State Department said the ministers agreed on the need to confront threats from Iran and had productive discussions on setting up what is to be known as the “Middle East Strategic Alliance” to promote security and stability in the region.
The GCC is a political and economic alliance of six countries in the Arabian Peninsula: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Before the crisis, citizens of the GCC enjoyed a great deal of freedom of movement between the six member states, but that ended with the blockade. With close tribal ties, over generations thousands of intermarriages have been celebrated between Qataris and other GCC nationals, and those families are no longer able to see each other.
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