RIYADH: Bilateral commercial traffic between Saudi Arabia and Qatar will resume through the Abu Samra border crossing on Sunday, customs authorities have announced.

The move follows the signing of the AlUla agreement last month, under which Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt restored relations with Doha after a three-year diplomatic dispute.

While Saudi Customs resumed operations at the Salwa border crossing with Qatar on Jan. 9, Qatar’s General Authority of Customs announced on Wednesday that the country will resume commercial traffic with Saudi Arabia on Feb. 14.

In addition to normal trade regulations and controls on goods passing between Salwa Port in Saudi Arabia and Abu Samra port in Qatar, precautionary measures will be in place to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Truck drivers arriving at the port must have a certificate, recognized by the Saudi Health Ministry, showing a negative COVID-19 test result within the past 72 hours, otherwise they will not be allowed to enter Qatar.  

Samples of the goods being transported will be examined to check for restricted or dangerous items.