DOHA/DUBAI: Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are restoring diplomatic ties and reopening embassies, officials said on Tuesday.
The step comes more than two years after Arab states ended a boycott of Doha.
“At present, the activation of diplomatic ties, which will include the reopening of embassies, is under process between both countries,” a UAE official said in a statement in response to a question from Reuters.
Qatar’s international media office, in a statement, confirmed that “work is underway to reopen the respective embassies as soon as possible.”
“Regarding the opening of embassies between the two countries, I think it will be in the coming weeks,” Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majid Al-Ansari told a briefing.
A Gulf official said embassies were expected to reopen with new ambassadors in their posts by mid-June. A fourth source said diplomatic relations would be fully restored within weeks.
The restoration of ties comes amid a broader regional push for reconciliation with Iran and Saudi Arabia agreeing last month to re-establish relations after years of hostility, which threatened instability in the Gulf and stoked the war in Yemen.
Several Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, have moved to end a decade-long isolation of Syria, which had been boycotted over its crackdown on protests in 2011 — violence that led to a protracted civil war.
In Yemen, the Houthi movement and Saudi Arabia held a round of peace talks this week, exchanging hundreds of detainees, a significant peace-building move in the conflict. Further peace talks are expected soon.
In mid-2017, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt severed all ties with Qatar over accusations it supported terrorism, a reference to Islamist groups, and was cosying up to Iran, accusations Doha denied.
Riyadh and Cairo were the first to reappoint ambassadors to Doha in 2021 after a Saudi-led deal to end the dispute, while Bahrain last week announced it would restore diplomatic ties.
