DOHA: Qatar’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that his country was willing to negotiate an end to a Gulf diplomatic rift but had seen no sign that Saudi Arabia and other countries imposing sanctions on Doha were open to mediation.

A visit this week to the UAE and Qatar by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov showed no signs of having eased tensions among the Gulf Arab powers.

“Qatar maintains its position that this crisis can only be achieved through a constructive dialogue ... but the blockading countries are not responding to any efforts being conducted by Kuwait or other friendly countries,” Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Moh­ammed bin Abdu­lrahman al-Thani told reporters in Doha on Wednesday at a news conference with his Russian counterpart.

The UAE’s ambassador to the United States, Yousef al-Otaiba, in an interview with US-based magazine The Atlantic on Monday, said his country would negotiate with Qatar so long as Doha did not set any preconditions for talks.

Published in Dawn, August 31st, 2017