Tillerson meets Qatar Foreign Minister in bid to resolve gulf crisis

Doha [Qatar], Oct 23 (ANI): United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson held talks with his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani in a bid to resolve the Gulf diplomatic crisis.

During the talks, Al-Thani affirmed Qatar's continued commitment to engage in constructive dialogue to resolve the Gulf crisis.

He also briefed his US counterpart on the latest developments of the Gulf crisis and the Kuwaiti mediation efforts to resolve the issue.

The two leaders also discussed the strategic relations between the two countries and ways of boosting and developing them in various fields, as well as the international efforts to fight against the ISIS terror group, besides the latest developments in the region, especially in Syria, Iraq and Palestine.

Stressing on Qatar's commitment to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) system, Al-Thani affirmed that the convening of any summit of the GCC will be a good opportunity for a civilized and diplomatic dialogue between the GCC countries.

In a joint news conference with his Qatari counterpart, Tillerson said he is not hopeful about Saudi Arabia willingness to begin direct talks to resolve a months-long diplomatic crisis in the Gulf.

"In my meetings with the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, I asked him to engage in dialogue, but there is not a strong indication that parties are ready to talk yet. We cannot force talks upon people who are not ready to talk," The Peninsula quoted Tillerson, as saying while referring to his earlier discussions in Riyadh.

"It's very important for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to continue to pursue unity," he added.

Tillerson visited Qatar after his visit to Saudi Arabia as part of a new push to end the current Gulf crisis.

Earlier in June this year, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt had snapped its diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of financing extremist groups and imposed a land, air and sea blockade on their Gulf neighbour.

However, Qatar rejected these allegations and termed the actions by Gulf member countries of isolating it diplomatically as "unjustified". (ANI)