KUWAIT: French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian held talks with top officials in Kuwait on Sunday in a bid to bolster the emirate’s attempts to mediate in the Qatar crisis.
Le Drian met with Kuwaiti emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and Kuwait’s foreign minister, state news agency KUNA said, for talks on the issue.
Le Drian stopped in Saudi Arabia and Qatar at the start of his two-day Gulf tour on Saturday.
The French foreign minister has supported Kuwait as a mediator in the crisis, which he said should be resolved “by the Gulf countries themselves.”
“France does not want to substitute the mediator,” Le Drian said in Saudi Arabia on Saturday. “It wants to be a facilitator by joining efforts of other countries.”
Le Drian’s visit comes after a four-day mediation mission by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, which ended on Thursday with no announcement of progress toward defusing mounting tensions in the Gulf.
The Anti-Terror Quartet (ATQ) imposed sanctions on Doha on June 5, including closing its only land border, denying Qatar access to their airspace and ordering their citizens back from the emirate.
French FM in Kuwait for Qatar crisis talks
French FM in Kuwait for Qatar crisis talks
