Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah (3rd-L), Emir of Kuwait, reading a message received from His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani after it was delivered by Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammad Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani (L), at Bayan palace in Kuwait City.
Qatar yesterday responded to a list of demands from Saudi Arabia and its allies after they agreed to give Doha another 48 hours to consider their grievances on the request of the Emir of Kuwait.
Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah met with HE the Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani at Bayan Palace in Kuwait , where he handed over the reply to the Kuwaiti leader.
At the outset of the meeting, HE the Foreign Minister conveyed the greetings of His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to the Emir of Kuwait as well as his wishes of more progress and prosperity to the Kuwaiti people.
The Emir of Kuwait entrusted Qatari foreign minister to convey his greetings to His Highness the Emir, wishing him good health and happiness and Qatari people further progress and prosperity.
HE the Foreign Minister handed over the Emir of Kuwait the reply, which was prepared earlier by Qatar to the list of collective demands submitted by the Kuwait at the end of last month, official Qatar News Agency said.
HE Sheikh Mohamed bin Hamad al-Thani, Advisor to His Highness the Emir on Investment Affairs, attended the meeting.
From the Kuwaiti side, the meeting was attended by the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber al-Mubarak al-Hamad al-Sabah, the First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Sabah al-Khaled al-Hamad al-Sabah, and a number of sheikhs and senior officials, QNA added.
Details of the response were not immediately available.
Kuwait is acting as a mediator in the crisis that followed the severing of ties to Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt on June 5.
The Arab states had announced in the early hours of Monday they were pushing back a deadline by 48 hours for Qatar to agree to a list of 13 demands they issued on June 22.
A joint statement said they were extending the ultimatum, which had been due to expire at the end of the day on Sunday, at the request of Kuwait's Emir.
The demands included Doha ending support for the Muslim Brotherhood, closing broadcaster Al-Jazeera, downgrading diplomatic ties with Iran and shutting down a Turkish military base .
Sheikh Mohamed had earlier said the list of demands was "made to be rejected" and on Monday British lawyers for Qatar denounced the demands as "an affront to international law".
In the evening, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir addressing a news conference with his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel in Jeddah expressed hopes for a "positive response to be able to resolve the crisis".
Gabriel, who will also visit the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait called for "serious dialogue" to end the crisis.
"We are worried that the distrust and the disunity could weaken all the parties concerned as well as the entire peninsula," said the German minister.
Meanwhile , HE the Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim bin Saif al- Sulaiti met yesterday with the Secretary-General of International Maritime Organization (IMO) Kitack Lim.
The meeting in London dealt with the violations of the blockading countries of international and maritime agreements, which caused great damages and dangers to marine navigation in violation to maritime agreements and especially the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. (Gulf Times)
