What to expect from the Egyptian president’s visit to Qatar?

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is about to go to Qatar on Tuesday, his first journey to Doha because the 2017 regional disaster.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is about to go to Qatar on September 12, 2022, his first to the Gulf state because the 2017 Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) disaster that remoted Qatar from the remainder of the area [Iakovos Hatzistavrou/POOL/AFP]

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is about to go to Qatar on Tuesday, his first journey to the Gulf state since 2017, when three Gulf states together with Egypt lower diplomatic ties with Qatar.

El-Sisi is scheduled to fulfill Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani throughout his two-day journey, which comes almost three months after the 2 leaders held talks in Cairo aimed toward selling relations between the 2 international locations.

Egypt and Qatar restored diplomatic ties in January 2021 following the signing of a reconciliation settlement in Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia. Other than Sheikh Tamim’s June journey to Cairo, the 2 leaders have additionally met on the sidelines of summits this yr.

Qatar Gulf reconciliation
Leaders from Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the UAE and the secretary-general of the GCC at a summit within the northwestern Saudi metropolis of Al-Ula on January 5, 2021 [File: Bandar al-Jaloud/Saudi Royal Palace via AFP]

Discussions on bilateral ties are anticipated to happen, together with rectifying a tumultuous relationship and funding alternatives.

Rebuilding a tumultuous relationship

In 2017, Egypt, together with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, severed diplomatic, commerce and journey ties with Qatar, after accusing Doha of interfering of their inside affairs and supporting “terrorism” within the area. Doha denied these claims, and, in flip, accused the identical states of economically and politically besieging Qatar.

After diplomatic ties had been restored final yr, Qatar and Egypt have engaged in mutual visits and bilateral agreements. This has included taking diplomatic steps that noticed the mutual appointment of ambassadors and the operation of direct flights between Egypt and Qatar for the primary time since 2017.

When Israel attacked Gaza in August, each Egypt and Qatar had been fast to dealer a ceasefire following a three-day lethal offensive by Israel.

In June, in response to the Egyptian presidency, the Qatari emir additionally “praised Egypt’s ongoing efforts on reconstruction within the Gaza Strip”. Doha and Cairo – key United States allies within the Center East – have each offered reconstruction help to the besieged territory and have been concerned with mediation efforts between Israel and Gaza’s directors, Hamas.

Financial funding

The Russian warfare on Ukraine has deepened Egypt’s meals disaster because it effected world meals costs and wheat exports.

Egypt has been laborious hit by the repercussions of the warfare: it's among the many world’s largest importers of wheat, with roughly 80 p.c of its provide coming from Russia and Ukraine final yr. In line with World Financial institution figures, inflation in Egypt spiked to round 9 p.c in February, a rise attributed to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in late February.

Round 350,000 Egyptians work in Qatar and ship a whole lot of tens of millions of dollars in remittances dwelling yearly.

Scrambling to spice up its financial system, Egypt inked funding agreements value $5bn throughout a go to by Qatar’s Overseas Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani to Cairo in March.

Hydrocarbon big QatarEnergy introduced an settlement with US main ExxonMobil to amass a 40-percent stake in a gasoline exploration block off Egypt within the Mediterranean.

Observers say that the $5bn to be invested by Qatar within the coming years will contribute to Egypt’s financial improvement, increase job creation there, and encourage Qatari non-public funding within the nation.

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