DOHA: Russia’s foreign minister has scheduled a trilateral meeting in Qatar with his United States and Saudi Arabia counterparts.
Sergei Lavrov will confer with US Secretary of State John Kerry and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al Jubeir during his two-day trip to Doha starting today, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
The ministry said Lavrov would also hold meetings with Emir
H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Foreign Minister
H E Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah, Reuters reported.
Kerry had said earlier he plans to meet separately in Doha with Lavrov to discuss Syria, Iran and the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. During his visit to Qatar, Lavrov will discuss the crises in Syria, Libya and Yemen.
Aljazeera reported John Kerry is heading to Egypt and Qatar to meet the foreign ministers of both countries, with a nuclear deal with Iran topping the agenda of the talks.
Kerry, who arrived in Cairo yesterday, will not be visiting Israel, Washington’s main ally in the region and the major opponent of the Iran agreement.
US officials rejected suggestions that Kerry’s omission of Israel from the itinerary signalled that the Obama administration had given up trying to convince Israeli leaders of the merits of the deal, the Associated Press reported.
Officials reportedly said the trip was primarily designed to follow-up on a May meeting that US President Barack Obama hosted for Arab leaders at Camp David, at which the US tried to ease the worries of its Middle East allies over Iran.
The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to discuss Kerry’s trip publicly, said the talks in Qatar would take stock of progress made on those goals, particularly since the Iran deal was signed.
One US official said that Kerry would use the meeting with the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to “try to respond to any remaining questions they might have, hopefully satisfy them and ensure that they are supporting our effort going forward”.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif visited Kuwait, Qatar and Iraq in a similar tour earlier this week to talk to his counterparts about the nuclear deal.
Kerry’s first stop was Cairo where he will participate today in a strategic dialogue with Egyptian officials that has been on hiatus because of political unrest
since 2009.
After leaving the Middle East, Kerry will travel to Southeast Asia, stopping in Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam before returning to Washington.
The Peninsula
