Saudi, UAE miffed over Kuwait's GCC invite to Qatar, set up new bloc

Kuwait on Thursday invited Qatar to a summit of Gulf countries next week amid the existent Saudi-led boycott of Doha

Agencies  |  Dubai 

Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Doha, gulf nations
Illustration photo of a map of Qatar. Photo: Reuters

and United Arab Emirates (UAE) will set up a joint cooperation committee which will coordinate between the two sides in the field of military, politics, economy, trade, culture and other areas of mutual interest.

President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has issued a resolution setting up the UAE-joint cooperation committee, News reported.

According to media reports, the committee will be headed by Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, crown prince of Abu Dhabi, and Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE's deputy prime minister and minister of presidential affairs, will serve as the Deputy Chairman of the committee.

As per the resolution, a decision on the appointment of the committee's members, who will be representatives from the UAE's public sector and federal bodies, will be made by the chairman of the committee.

The resolution comes at a time when is hosting a Cooperation Council summit amid trade and travel ban on imposed by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt, who have accused of supporting and funding "terrorism".

However, has rejected these allegations and termed the actions by member countries of isolating it diplomatically as "unjustified".

invites to amid crises

on Thursday invited to a summit of countries next week amid the existent Saudi-led diplomatic boycott of

The Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit is scheduled for December 5 and 6.

Kuwait, which is not among Arab states boycotting Qatar, invited Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin Haman al-Thani to the summit of the Cooperation Council on December 5 and 6, the state-run KUNA news agency said.

The message was delivered by Kuwait's ambassador to during a meeting with Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin Haman Al Thani on Thursday.

In June, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain abruptly cut diplomatic and commercial ties with

The quartet has accused of funding "terrorism", a charge that has vehemently denied, calling it an attempt to isolate it.

has been trying to play the mediating role from the past six months for the ongoing crises.

According to the reports, Bahrain said in October that it will refuse to attend the summit if does not change its policies and urged the other countries to suspend Qatar's membership of the

The GCC, which was established in 1981, is a political and economic alliance of countries in the Arabian Peninsula.

Its member states are Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.

It promotes economic, security, cultural and social cooperation between the six states and holds a summit every year to discuss regional affairs.

First Published: Wed, December 06 2017. 09:12 IST