Foreign ministers of the Arab quartet boycotting Qatar over terror financing and directly compromising regional stability and security sat for a meeting in Abu Dhabi on Saturday.
The meeting was dubbed as “important” and revolved around issues concerning Middle East peace and security.
Each of the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain had joined a Saudi-led initiative to curb Doha’s detrimental regional policies, such as backing ultra-hardline groups like the Muslim Brotherhood.
Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu-Zeid said that FM Sameh Shoukry kicked off political consultations by holding a four-sided meeting with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain.
He discussed developments in the Qatari crisis, Doha's continued interventionist approach in Arab affairs and refusal to respond to demands made by the quartet.
Shoukry also held a meeting with Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdelkader Messahel on the security and political situation in Libya, stressing the importance of supporting United Nations efforts to end the crisis. The also agreed to hold a meeting for Libya’s neighbors later this month in Cairo in order to support efforts to achieve stability and security in the North African country.
The spokesman added that Shoukry's consultations in Abu Dhabi also included a meeting with UN envoy to Libya Ghassan Salameh.
They discussed the outcomes of Libyan meetings to amend the Skheirat agreement as part of the UN envoy's plan to deal with the situation in Libya.
He pointed out that Shoukry affirmed Egypt's full support for Salameh’s mission. He briefed him on the results of meetings of the Libyan army representatives in Cairo held recently to discuss how best to rebuild and consolidate its capabilities and transfer the Egyptian expertise to the Libyan army so that it can carry out its national duties.
Shoukry also discussed with his Italian counterpart Angelino Alfano bilateral relations in light of recent positive developments that saw the return of ambassadors to capitals, as well as efforts to combat terrorism and illegal immigration.
