We enjoy a very strong relationship with Cyprus, advisor to Qatari Prime Minister says

We enjoy a very strong relationship with Cyprus, Dr Majed al-Ansari, advisor to Qatari Prime Minister and the spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry of Qatar, has said.

Speaking to CNA, Al-Ansari, who is in Cyprus for contacts, said that both countries were “very keen” to be peace facilitators around the world, and that this allows them to work together on the situation in Gaza and in Syria.

He also said that Qatar wants to utilise all its national infrastructure for attracting international investments, including Cypriot companies and Cypriot businessmen, and that it was also developing its investments abroad, while that there is a lot of need for the business communities on both sides, Cypriot and Qatari businessmen, to seek opportunities for investment. 

Asked about his visit to Cyprus, al-Ansari said “we enjoy a very strong relationship with Cyprus. We have been working on a lot of issues together and especially when it comes to the situation in the region,, while also referring to the “very strong economic relationship” of the two countries.

He referred to the cooperation between Qatar Energy and ExxonMobil in exploring for natural gas in Cyprus’ exclusive economic zone. “There is a good healthy increase in the trade between our two nations,” he said, noting that the strength of this relationship was “very important” and “it was cemented through the various visits by the heads of State, including His Highness, the Emir (of Qatar) here and His Excellency the President (of the Republic of Cyprus), also has visited Qatar many times.”

“So, there is a lot of synergies that we are working and there are a lot of similarities between Qatar and Cyprus. Both of us are geographically small nations with very ambitious goals and ambitious foreign policy,” he added. “We are situated in turbulent waters and both of our countries are very keen to be forces for good and peace facilitators around the world, and I think this allows us to work together and we’ve been working together on the situation in Gaza and working together on the situation in Syria and therefore this visit comes in respect of that,” he said.

The main purpose of this visit, he said, “is to get a better understanding on the Cypriot positions on a lot of issues towards our region, discuss the main developments, regionally with Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and others and obviously find ways of working together for peaceful resolutions.” Dr al-Ansari noted that throughout his meetings “it was very clear that there was a lot that we can do together, that there is a width in the relationship that can be broadened and especially when it comes to our good offices both in Qatar and Cyprus, there is certainly a lot of things that we see eye-to-eye in and that we are already working on together,” he added, noting that “there are also other avenues that we can do that will be very useful and would support the prosperity of our peoples.”

He noted that he had meetings at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and met the Government Spokesperson, but has also meetings with the tech community and the media.

Asked in which fields he believes the two countries could further enhance relations, Dr al-Ansari noted “obviously on the economic side of the relationship, we are heavily working on the energy sector. I think there is a lot of need for businessmen on both sides, Cypriot and Qatari businessmen to seek opportunities for investment.”

He noted that Qatar launched last year its national Development Strategy of this period, which is a move towards attracting investment to utilise the infrastructure and work with the national champion companies like Qatar Airways, Qatar Energy, natural gas production, “but also things like redo our communications company and the Qatar ports, the companies that are basically not only leading our national economic output, but also supporting international endeavours.”

He added that, after the second phase, which was building the infrastructure, “we have the new airport, we have the port, which is one of the biggest in the region, we have a free zone that is also one of the biggest in the region, we have data centres that are competitive internationally,” in this, third phase of their development, they want to utilise all of this infrastructure. “We’re attracting international investments, including Cypriot companies and Cypriot businessmen, and we are also developing our investments abroad.” Dr al-Ansari noted that the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), “our investment arm, is investing heavily in a lot of real estate infrastructure and business opportunities all around the world and our businessmen obviously are always seeking opportunities. So that’s one main aspect that we need to develop together.”

The other side, he added, “is our diplomatic work together.”

“We’ve worked together on the humanitarian corridor with Gaza, we’re looking forward to seeing some of the opportunities in working and rebuilding the whole region, it’s our region, Qatar and Cyprus are parts of the same region. We are facing the same issues, we are facing the same challenges, and we are facing the same humanitarian catastrophes that are going on around this,” he said. “So, I think there is a lot of opportunity to work together with Cyprus being a hub for humanitarian services and humanitarian help in Gaza, in Syria and supporting Lebanon and other places. And I think there is a lot of interest on both sides to work together,” he added.

Asked whether there was anything more specific concerning investments, he noted that “there is a huge interest in infrastructure projects.” “Obviously, the hotel industry and the tourism industry is a very big one, and I’m sure that our businessmen would be interested in doing something here. But when it comes to infrastructure, there is a national interest in Qatar by the sovereign investment arm to be a big investor when it comes to international infrastructure and Cyprus has a boom of such projects that I think Qatar can participate in,” he added.

Mediation on Gaza will continue “as long as there is hope for peace”

Asked about the Gaza talks since Qatar acts as one of the mediators, Dr al-Ansari said that since the collapse of the ceasefire, “we have been working together with our partners in the mediation in Egypt and the United States to seek possible new avenues for resuming the ceasefire.”

“Our focus was mainly on returning to the deal that was agreed upon. This deal took months upon months of preparation, and we believe in the deal and the content of the deal in producing peaceful results. We implore the parties to go back to implementation of the agreement,” he said. At the same time, he added, “we are working between Hamas and Israel to exchange ideas on any alternative or temporary format that would bring about a ceasefire to the ground.”

He noted however, that “the main thing we should be focusing on right now is the fact that there are 2.3 million people under siege in Gaza” without food,, noting that the World Food Programme announced the day before yesterday that there is no food left in the whole sector. Dr al-Ansari said that children, women, elderly people were “going to start dying out of hunger, out of simple diseases, out of thirst, out of the heat or cold, because there are also no shelters and it cannot be accepted in the international community that aid is weaponised and used by one party in the conflict, while there is impunity from the international community.”

“Weaponising food, weaponising water, weaponising medicine is something that is not accepted in any form of international law or international norm, and therefore our focus right now should be that there is no excuse for the people of Gaza not to be allowed sustenance, not to be allowed aid going in and we’re working with our partners to see various ways of bringing in aid to Gaza and obviously Cyprus has been very instrumental in finding innovative ways of bringing aid to the sector and we hope that we can continue doing that,” he added.

He also said that Qatar continues its efforts, “and these efforts will not be deterred by the lack of seriousness of both sides or by the attacks on my nation while we are doing the mediation. It is something we believe in, our leadership believes in, and we will continue doing it as long as there is hope for peace.”

(Source: CNA)