Earlier this month, the foreign ministries of Egypt and Qatar formed a joint political consultation committee that met in Cairo to talk over regional issues between the two countries and boost bilateral cooperation.
The meeting, which took place last Sunday and was considered the first one for the committee, was much appreciated by the two ministers, as it contributed to fixing ties between both countries to a great extent after nearly six years of tension between Qatar and other Arab countries, including Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE.
The feud initially started over Qatar’s alleged support for Islamist extremist groups and its close relations with Iran, which pushed several Arab countries to cut ties with the country in 2107 and accused its leaders of undermining Egypt by funding the Muslim Brotherhood, which Cairo outlawed and declared a terrorist organization in 2013 and imprisoned and exiled thousands of its members.
However, on Sunday, Egypt and Qatar officially reconciled, following Qatari Prince Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad’s visit to Cairo last June to address mutual issues.
For his part, Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El Sisi paid a visit to Doha, Qatar the following September to strengthen the ties. They also met during the World Cup in Qatar in November and later in Abu Dhabi last month.
Furthermore, Qatar has wildly increased its investment in Egypt in 2022. Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund has also acquired Egyptian state holdings in several companies and pumped a $5 B deposit in the Egyptian central bank to help the nation deal with the current economic crisis, overpopulation, and lack of resources and basic commodities.
