Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Ahmad Nasser Mohammed al Sabah said on state television on Monday that “on the basis of the recommendation of His Highness Sheikh Nawaf al Ahmad al Sabah, the Emir of Kuwait, God is protecting him, it has agreed to launch the air- and open sea borders (Monday) between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. “
He also said that the final agreement was the result of a phone call between the Kuwaiti Emir and the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The diplomatic breakthrough comes a day before a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) meeting on Tuesday, hosted by Saudi Arabia.
Representatives from Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will attend the event. The Qatari emir will also attend the summit, his first visit to the country in three years.
In a statement, bin Salman said the summit would focus on regional “unity and cohesion,” the state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said. “Through [the summit] the hope of the [Saudi] King and his brothers, the (Gulf Cooperation Council) leaders for unity and cohesion will be translated into facing the challenges of the region, “SPA reported.
A senior U.S. government official told CNN on Monday that President Trump’s son-in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, helped negotiate the reopening between the two countries and that a ceremony would also attend Tuesday’s summit that the achievement.
But Saudi Arabia and Qatar have recently worked to close the gap. At a virtual diplomatic conference in December, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud said he was “optimistic” about re-establishing relations.
At the same conference, Qatar’s foreign minister acknowledged that there were moves to finally “end the Gulf crisis”.