Egypt Sisi Meets Qatari Envoy İn Cairo

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Saturday met in Cairo with an envoy of the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for the first time since he came to office in Egypt in June of this year.



"Egypt looks forward to starting a new chapter that puts an end to the differences of the past," the Egyptian presidency said in a statement following the meeting, which was also attended by an envoy of Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz.



It said the Egyptian President had met with Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdel-Rahman Al Thani, a special envoy of the Emir of Qatar, and the chief of Saudi royal staff, Khaled bin Abdel-Aziz Al Tweijri.



Al Thani is the first Qatari official to meet with the Egyptian President since he came to power in his country in June of this year.



The Egyptian presidency said in its statement that what it called the "intricacy" of the present time made it necessary for Arabs to join hands and work "honestly" together.



It said the meeting between al-Sisi and the Qatari and Saudi officials had focused on means of putting into effect an initiative of the Saudi monarch last month for supporting Egypt.



Al-Sisi said he agreed with the Saudi King on the need for thinkers and the media to react positively to his initiative, which aims at bringing Egyptian-Qatari relations, in particular, back on track and strengthening Arab-Arab relations, in general, the Egyptian presidency said.



Relations between Cairo and Doha deteriorated markedly since July of last year, when Mohamed Morsi – Egypt's first elected president – was ousted by the army following mass opposition protests.



Egypt had accused Doha of interfering in its affairs by supporting the Muslim Brotherhood – the group from which Morsi hails – and by hosting a number of wanted Brotherhood figures following Morsi's ouster.



In a September interview with CNN held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad described Morsi's ouster as a "military coup."



Cairo has been especially irked by Qatar's view of political developments in Egypt, and what it describes as biased news coverage by Qatar's Al-Jazeera Mubasher Misr channel, which is devoted to covering Egypt news.



A recent inter-Gulf initiative, however, has sought to break the ice between Cairo and Doha.



www.aa.com.tr/en - Kahire