Crucial Gulf meeting in Cairo today

Cairo : Foreign ministers from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain are meeting in Cairo today to discuss the situation following cessation of diplomatic ties with Qatar. The meeting follows Qatar’s response to Kuwait on Monday to a list of demands from Saudi Arabia and its allies after they agreed to give a Doha another 48 hours to address their grievances. 

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt had announced in the early hours of Monday they were pushing back a deadline for Qatar to agree to a list of 13 demands they issued on June 22. A joint statement had said they were extending the ultimatum to the next 24 hours, which had been due to expire at the end of the day on Sunday, at the request of Kuwait’s Amir. 

The Cairo meeting will assess whether Qatar has made enough concessions to the demands, which include ending financial support for extremists, withdrawing backing for the Muslim Brotherhood, closure of the broadcaster Al-Jazeera and cutting diplomatic ties with Iran. Gulf diplomats are pessimistic about Qatar’s willingness to accept the terms, and they predicted if no agreement was reached, two broadly neutral Middle East countries, Kuwait and Jordan, may join behind Saudi Arabia against Qatar, according to reports. Kuwait has been acting as chief mediator in the dispute. According to reports, Gulf states are preparing to ramp up economic sanctions against Qatar as well as widening its diplomatic isolation and suspending it from the Gulf Co-operation Council.Reports suggest that a stronger economic embargo could be implemented, including disinvestment from Qatarand withdrawal of investments.