El-Sisi’s Doha visit ends as Egypt and Qatar signal stronger ties

Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi signed quite a lot of offers in Doha.

Qatar's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamed Al Thani meets Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in Doha, Qatar, September 13, 2022 [Qatar News Agency/Handout via Reuters]

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has concluded his two-day go to to Qatar after a gathering with the Gulf state’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and the signing of quite a lot of offers between the 2 international locations.

The go to, which started on Tuesday, adopted a visit by Sheikh Tamim to Egypt in June, and was an indication of warming ties.

“[There are] quite a lot of offers on the desk on the subject of enterprise investments and the economic system,” mentioned Al Jazeera’s Stefanie Dekker, reporting from Qatar’s capital, Doha. “Within the phrases of the official Qatari information company, this can be a new period in relations between the 2 international locations.”

In 2017, Egypt, together with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, boycotted Qatar in an try and drive Doha to vary its regional insurance policies.

The boycott led to 2021 when the 4 international locations normalised relations with Qatar.

Wednesday’s assembly between Sheikh Tamim and el-Sisi noticed the signing of three memorandums of understanding, together with one between their respective sovereign wealth funds.

This week’s go to was el-Sisi’s first since turning into Egypt’s president in 2014, after overthrowing the earlier president, Mohammed Morsi, in a navy coup. Morsi had heat relations with Qatar.

Egypt has been trying to draw overseas funding because the nation faces a scarcity of meals provides within the wake of the battle in Ukraine, in addition to different financial issues.

In late March, the Egyptian authorities mentioned Qatar deliberate to take a position $5bn in Egypt, whereas hydrocarbon large QatarEnergy introduced an settlement with United States power firm ExxonMobil to amass a 40 % stake in a fuel exploration block off Egypt within the Mediterranean Sea.

An estimated 350,000 Egyptians work in Qatar, sending residence a whole bunch tens of millions of dollars in remittances yearly.