AMMAN: Jordan’s King Abdallah and Queen Rania arrived in Qatar yesterday for a state visit that heralds a rapprochement between the two Arab countries which succeeds a decade of strained ties.
The royal trip was preceded two weeks ago by a visit to the oil-rich emirate by the Jordanian Prime Minister Nader Dahabi who said that the two countries prepared to embark on an era of economic cooperation that involves the investment of Qatari funds in Jordan.
According to a Jordanian royal court statement, talks between King Abdullah and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani would tackle means of boosting bilateral cooperation and enhancing coordination between the two countries on pan-Arab and regional issues. The ties between Jordan and Qatar began to turn sour in 1999 when the Jordanian authorities deported to Doha leading members of Hamas, including the currently politburo chief Khaled Meshaal, after closing down the faction’s office in Amman.
Two years ago, Jordanian pro-government media assailed the Qatari government for its failure to back Jordan’s nominee to the post of the UN Secretary General.
In another and unrelated development, King Abdallah yesterday issued an impassionate appeal to the European countries and other world powers to put pressure on Israel to ensure a “speedy” end of the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.
