Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani stressed on Tuesday that the AlUla declaration had closed a chapter of differences between Gulf brothers.
The declaration was announced in January at a Gulf Cooperation Council summit hosted in Saudi Arabia’s AlUla. The declaration helped end the Gulf rift between Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt with Qatar.
The declaration “came as an embodiment of the principle of resolving differences through dialogue based on common interests and mutual respect. We are confident of consolidating this concordance that has happened between brothers,” added Sheikh Tamim at the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
“The issue of conflicts has kept the United Nations busy and placed many burdens on it since its foundation. Unfortunately, the Middle East region is a source of a large part of these burdens. Hence, Qatar considers contributing to the field of peaceful resolution of conflicts, including putting forward concepts of collective security, as one of its priorities. As there is no security, stability, development or decent human life under conflicts,” he remarked.
“As an example, at the Gulf level, our immediate environment, we have repeatedly stressed the importance of the GCC and our commitment to settle any differences through constructive dialogue,” stated Sheikh Tamim.
On Afghanistan, he said the international community has “to work systematically and persistently to achieve a comprehensive political settlement and pave the way for stability in this country that has long suffered from the ravages of war.”
“Qatar has spared no effort in helping to evacuate thousands of individuals and families of various nationalities during the past weeks. This was our humanitarian duty,” he added.
“In coordination with our international partners, we will continue to do whatever we can to ensure that the tangible gains that have been achieved within the Doha path are maintained, and it is necessary that the parties abide by their commitments during it,” he said, referring to Afghan negotiations.
On Syria, Sheikh Tamim said: “The international community must redouble its efforts to put an end to this crisis through a peaceful solution in accordance with the Geneva-communique -1, the implementation of Security Council Resolution 2254 with all its elements, and to maintain the national unity, territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Syria.”
On Yemen, he said: “Qatar affirms its keenness on Yemen’s unity and territorial integrity and its firm position that the only way out of the crisis is through negotiation between the Yemeni parties on the basis of the outcomes of the national dialogue, the Gulf initiative, and the relevant Security Council resolutions, in particular, resolution 2216.”
