Qatar

Qatar’s emir will attend an economic summit in Egypt

Qatar’s emir will attend an economic summit due to take place in Egypt in mid-March, sources from both countries said on Monday, in a sign of easing political tension between the Arab countries.

Qatar’s support for former Egyptian Islamist President Mohammad Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood created tensions with Abdul Fattah Al Sissi, who ousted Mursi in 2013 and cracked down on the Brotherhood since his election as president last year.

Qatar’s role as a host to exiled Brotherhood leaders has irritated Egypt, which along with Saudi Arabia and the UAE considers the Brotherhood a political threat.

“A formal invitation letter has been presented from Egypt’s president to the Qatari emir to attend the economic summit in Egypt,” said an Egyptian official source in the Gulf. A source close to Qatar’s Emir Shaikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani said the invitation has been accepted.

Egypt hopes the summit in the Red Sea resort of Sharm Al Shaikh will attract foreign investors to boost an economy battered by years of political turmoil.

Qatar has taken steps to improve relations with Cairo, including suspending broadcasts by the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera television of an Egypt-focused channel, and the departure in September of seven senior Muslim Brotherhood figures.

Sources close to Qatar’s government say the Brotherhood members were not expelled and left of their own free will.

Al Jazeera said it was rolling Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr (AJMM) into a new channel reporting live events from around the world, not just Egypt.

Egyptian authorities are still putting pressure on Qatar to hand over Assem Abdul Majid, a senior member of the Islamist group Jamaa Islamiya who is wanted on terrorism charges, according to security sources.

Sources close to the Qatari government say that officials in the Gulf nation have not declined or agreed to hand over Abdul Majid, but also said that handing him over would go against the country’s principles.