Qatar has said it regarded Egypt as a major state with a leading role in regional matters. “Our relations with Egypt have been through much tension,” Qatari Foreign Minister Mohamed Abdulrahman said. “However, there has always been a minimum of relations,” he told the Russian news agency Sputnik.
The Egyptian government did not act negatively towards Qatari investments in Egypt or cause problems for Qatari students studying at Egyptian educational institutions, even at the height of tensions with Doha, the minister said. “We appreciate this greatly,” he added.
Relations between Cairo and Doha have been strained in recent years due to what the Egyptian government viewed as Qatari support for the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood movement.
Egypt had asked Qatar to stop meddling in its affairs several times and complained that Qatari media coverage
of Egyptian developments was far from neutral.
Earlier this year, Qatar pledged to change course with Egypt and other Arab states during a reconciliation summit in Saudi Arabia.
Abdulrahman visited Egypt this week for talks with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on a wide range of issues, including the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and bilateral relations.
Sputnik quoted him as saying yesterday that his country looked forward to co-operating with Egypt in the coming period.
“We do not have many pending issues with Cairo,” Abdulrahman said. “There is progress in the work of the committees of the two countries.”
He described the government of President Sisi as “legitimate” as it was elected by the people.
“We are now working with the legitimately elected government of Egypt,” the Qatari foreign minister said.
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