Doha, Manama decide to resume joint committee work
The King of Bahrain Sheikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifaconcluded a visit to Doha lasted for five hours, during which he held talks with Amir of Qatar, Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani.
In press statements following the meeting, the King of Bahrain said that the two Qatari and Bahraini sides agreed to resuming works of the joint higher committee chaired by the crown princes in the two states in the second half of February 2004.
He added that the committee will consider all technical issues, including the bridge project which links the two states, noting that it is a very large project. He described the round of talks with the Amir of Qatar as a support for the Gulf Co-operation Council, noting that Qatar and Bahrain have opened new pages among themselves.
For his part, Bahrain's minister of information, Nabil al-Homer, commended results of Doha summit, and considered that the most important among its results are the resumption of the work of the joint higher committee. He considered that as a new turning point in the march of joint cooperation between Doha and Manama.
For his part, Qatar's foreign minister, Sheikh Hamad Bin Jasem Bin Jabber al-Thani, denied in press statements to have differences between Doha and Manama in the context of the GCC, noting the solid ties linking the peoples of the two states.
He said that Doha summit witnessed a clear and vivid discussion between the two leaderships, overwhelmed by the strong desire to develop bilateral relations and eliminate the problems in the two states' bilateral relations of the two past years.
The Qatari- Bahraini relations witnessed coolness since the mid of 2002, after the suspension of the meeting of the joint committee chaired by the two states' crown princes. The committee was resumed to convene a meeting in Manama in April this year.
The two sides formed a joint higher committee after the end of their border dispute in 2001, and discussed the implementation of several joint projects, especially a bridge linking the two states similar to that links Bahrain to Saudi Arabia.