Gulf nations to meet informally ahead of annual summit

Arab leaders from Gulf countries may hold a special meeting to agree on differences among themselves ahead of an annual summit in Qatar in December.

Kuwaiti daily Al-Anbaa reported that consultations are underway for Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders to gather informally before the summit at Doha on December 9^th-10^th. The gathering will go ahead as scheduled after a “special summit”, maybe in Riyadh next week, to get rid of differences, Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat reported.

Despite simmering dispute over Islamists between members of the GCC and Doha, officials have denied that the venue of the summit will be changed.

Qatar has been resolving disputes between Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia since they pulled their envoys out of Kuwait in March.

“I have only heard about a summit to be held at a certain time in a specific country, which is Qatar. I hope it will be held at its time and place”, Al-Anbaa quoted foreign ministry undersecretary Khaled al-Jarallah saying. He has also denied reports of the summit being moved to Kuwait, where last year’s meeting was held, or Saudi Arabia.

A meeting of foreign ministers that was scheduled for Monday to prepare for the annual summit “has been postponed but God willing, it will be held”, al-Jarallah said.

According to reports on Monday, the preparatory meeting was abandoned without a new date in place.

The UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia all have accused Qatar of interfering in their internal affairs and of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood. Saudi Arabia labels the Muslim Brotherhood as a “terrorist” group, while the UAE has imprisoned dozens of people convicted of connections to the group. Qatar later asked the Muslim Brotherhood to leave Qatar after diplomatic pressure from Saudi Arabia, but differences still remain between the two.