Egypt’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed Egypt’s understanding for the Bahraini position and the decision of Bahraini King Hamad bin Issa Al-Khalifa to boycott any Gulf summits or meetings in the presence of Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani.
In a statement on Tuesday, Egypt’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abou Zaid said that “the Bahraini decision is a sovereign decision due to the damage that affected Bahrain because of the negative Qatari policies in the last years.”
Abou Zaid asserted Egypt’s support for the Kingdom of Bahrain in any step to keep its security and stability and the safety of its people.
Kuwait is set to host the upcoming GCC summit in December amid fears of canceling or postponing the summit due to the ongoing Gulf crisis.
On Sunday, Bahraini Minister of Foreign Affairs Khalid bin Ahmed Al-Khalifa said that his country may not attend the upcoming summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which is set to be in December in Kuwait, unless Qatar changes its position.
“The right step to keep the GCC is to freeze Qatar’s membership until it uses its brain and agrees to our countries’ demands,” Al-Khalifa said in a tweet on his Twitter account.
The Bahraini minister accused Doha of approaching Iran and bringing foreign forces to the region. “If Qatar believes that its stalling will give it time until the upcoming summit of the Cooperation Council, it would be wrong; if the situation remained as it is now, we will attend the summit,” he added.
In June, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bahrain boycotted Qatar on accusations of supporting terrorism and intervening in the internal affairs of the four countries.
The four countries presented 13 demands to Doha to normalise relations with it, including shutting Al-Jazeera network and cutting ties with Iran and the Muslim Brotherhood, in addition to shutting down the Turkish military base.
