Qatar and the Gulf Cooperation Council

Qatar and the Gulf Cooperation Council

What is the news?

Bahrain’s Foreign Minister criticised Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad alThani for not attending a Gulf Arab summit in Saudi Arabia, an absence that suggests a rift between Doha and three Gulf Arab states is unlikely to be resolved soon.

Qatar sent its State Minister for Foreign Affairs to the annual one-day summit that is overshadowed by the economic and diplomatic boycott of Doha since mid-2017.

Qatar denies the charges. “Qatar’s Emir should have accepted the fair demands (of the boycotting states) and attended the summit,” Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa said in a tweet.

Why is Qatar sidelined?

• Riyadh, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt alleges that Doha supports terrorism. Qatar vehemently opposed the same.
• UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt even imposed travel and trade sanctions on Qatar over accusations of supporting terrorism.
• They also wants to ban the Qatari news channel Al Jazeera as it is being used as a propaganda tool.

What is GCC? 

• The Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf known as the Gulf Cooperation Council is a regional intergovernmental political and economic union consisting of all Arab states of the Persian Gulf except Iraq.
• The Charter of the Gulf Cooperation Council was signed on 25 May 1981, formally establishing the institution.
• All current member states of GCC are monarchies.

Member Nations

• Its member states are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
• There have been discussions regarding the future membership of Jordan, Morocco, and Yemen.