Gulf crisis: Qatar foreign minister meets Sushma

NEW DELHI: India and Qatar discussed the ongoing Gulf crisis when Qatar’s foreign minister

Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani

met Sushma Swaraj on Saturday. The Qatar foreign minister’s visit comes on the heels of a visit by the UAE deputy foreign minister Anwar Gargash, who came to discuss the same crisis, albeit from different standpoints.

“Bilateral issues, including welfare of Indian workers in Qatar, were discussed,” tweeted the MEA spokesperson. Qatar is the workplace for over 600000 Indian workers, mainly blue-collar construction labour. Qatar is also India’s top supplier by far of LNG.

India has been keen to ensure that the diplomatic and economic standoff between Qatar and Saudi Arabia-led Gulf states does not impact Indian workers or growing Indian interests in the Gulf. For Qatar, it Is important to show they are not isolated in the region.

Qatar is ranged against the other powerful Gulf states for its support to terror groups, including the Islamic State. The Afghan-Taliban actually has an office there. but more than that, this is the UAE-Saudi campaign to stop Qatar from engaging

Iran

.

Qatar has already rejected a list of 13 demands made by the Saudi-UAE group, presented by 'mediator' Kuwait. But things took a turn for the worse when the Saudi king was photographed with a member of a part of the Qatari royal family that was ousted in a coup in 1972 — in response, Qatar reinstated diplomatic ties with Iran. The Qatari ambassador actually returned to Tehran this weekend.

Before meeting Sushma Swaraj, the Qatar foreign minister also held talks with British foreign minister Boris Johnson. Donald Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner, too, has been among those visiting Doha to talk up the US-Qatar relationship.