Qatar- Gulf crisis fabricated: FM

Qatar's Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has underlined that 'the recent developments related to the Gulf crisis have not been needed, especially in this period of time of multiple conflicts.

Speaking at a joint press conference held here yesterday with Foreign Minister of Belgium, Didier Reynders, Qatar's Foreign Minister affirmed that the Gulf crisis is fabricated and that it broke out on the basis of an electronic attack targetting Qatar followed by a siege of the Qatari people and is still ongoing for more than 90 days.

The Foreign Minister added that the despair of the siege countries has reached the point of buying advertising seconds in various television stations to market their ideas against Qatar.

The Minister noted that his Belgian counterpart is well aware that Qatar is participating in the global efforts to combat terrorism and is working with its partners at the international level to confront terrorism and financing of terrorist activities.

'We have talked about terrorism in its true sense, in accordance with the international definition, not on the basis of its definition by the siege countries, Sheikh Mohamed said.

The Minister described the meeting with his Belgian counterpart as fruitful and discussed the relations between Qatar and Belgium, in addition to the various agreements that will be signed during the visit of Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to Belgium.

'We appreciate the role of Belgium in the various humanitarian issues in the region, especially in Syria, the Foreign Minister said, stressing that Qatar strongly advocates the accountability of war criminals. He said : 'We express our desire and will to strengthen this cooperation in the future.

'We have had the opportunity to discuss various developments of common concern in Libya and Iraq, as well as the issue of combating terrorism and the financing of Islamic centres in Europe, the Foreign Minister said.

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