Qatar-Gulf crisis: All the latest updates

An air, sea and land blockade imposed on Qatar by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt is now in its sixth month.

    Six months ago, an air, sea and land blockade was imposed on Qatar by neighbouring countries. Here are the latest developments as of Thursday, January 4:

    • Iran invites to OIC meeting. On Wednesday, Iran's Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani invited Qatar Parliament Speaker Ahmed bin Abdullah al-Mahmoud to attend the 13th summit of the OIC parliament speakers to be held in Tehran on January 17-18, as reported by Iran's news agency (IRNA). 

    • Qatar's blockading countries are members in the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), but have strained diplomatic relations with Iran. They demanded that Qatar followed suit with Iran.

    • All-inclusive participation in GCC meeting. All six member nations will be represented when chief lawmakers from the Gulf region assemble for a conference in Kuwait next week, the country's National Assembly Speaker Marzouq al-Ghanim said on Tuesday. 
    • Turkey looks to enhance cooperation. Speaking from Turkey during a promotional event for the turkishsouq.com website, Ahmet Arslad, Turkish minister for transport, maritime affairs said: "Our cooperation with Qatar will not be limited to e-commerce, it will become widespread in other fields and will pave the way for the two countries to work together elsewhere." 
    • UAE, Saudi introduce VAT. A common agreement on value-added tax (VAT) for the GCC region will officially come into effect January 1, 2018, with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates announcing actual implementation, Kuwait's News Agency reported on Sunday.

    • Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar and Oman reportedly decided to delay introducing VAT until later in 2018 and 2019.

    December 24 - 30

    • QCB reserves increase. The Qatar central bank's international reserves and foreign currency liquidity rose slightly in November, official data showed on Sunday.

    • The reserves and liquidity, a measure of the central bank's ability to support the riyal currency, increased to $36.9bn last month from $36.1bn in October.

    • Qatar, Saudi deny "coup" report. Qatar's embassy issued a statement on Wednesday denying Turkish media reports of Turkish soldiers foiling an attempted military coup staged by Saudi Arabia. The embassy said the reports were baseless.

    • Saudi Arabia's embassy in Ankara issued a similar statement denying the report.

    • Kuwait says GCC to keep operating despite crisis. Despite the spat the GCC's work "will not be frozen or disrupted," Khaled al-Jarallah, the deputy foreign minister said on Wednesday. 

    • Kuwait is expected to hold a conference that will bring together parliament speakers from the Gulf region on January 8 and 9. 

    • Turkey sends new soldiers to Qatar. On Tuesday, a group of Turkish soldiers arrived at a military base in Doha, according to Qatar's Defense Ministry.The soldiers will join another group which previously arrived at Tariq bin Ziyad military base in the Gulf state.

    • Qatar's emir concludes West Africa tour. On Monday, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani concluded his trip around West Africa to Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, Guinea, Cote d'Ivoire, and Ghana.

    • "In Ghana, we have laid down the basis for a broader partnership, along with HE President Nana Akufo-Addo, paving the way to important bilateral projects in vital areas such as air transport, sport and food security," the Emir tweeted. 

    • Qatar stocks fell in 2017. Bloomberg reported on Sunday that Qatar's stock exchange index is near its lowest in eight years, down by 18 percent in 2017. 

    • Qatar won't compete in chess tournament.Qatar will not compete in the World Rapid and Blitz Chess Championships hosted by Saudi Arabia in Riyadh from December 26-30.

    • According to the Qatar Chess Federation, their top national team will not compete in the tournament, because the organisers demanded that "the players not display the Qatari flag at any stage during the competition".

    For previous developments click here

    SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies