Qatar critisizes Egypt for boycotting MENA

Qatar strongly criticized Egypt for having boycotted the fourth Middle East and North Africa economic conference (MENA) which ends in Doha tomorrow.

In a press conference held in Doha today, Qatar's Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassem Bin Jabor Al Thani attacked Egypt stating that its boycott of the conference did not serve Arab interests claiming that the Egyptian move had other reasons behind it, namely "to settle specific accounts."

The Qatari official blamed the Egyptian authorities for the deterioration of Qatari-Egyptian relations saying that Qatar had tried to avoid any breach in those relations but that Egypt took a very negative position.

He added that Qatar had wanted to settle the Qatari-Egyptian row directly with the Egyptian officials. He said that he discussed the matter with a number of Egyptian officials including President Hosni Mubarak and the Chief of the Egyptian intelligence.

He told reporters in Doha that Qatar had tried not to raise that matter but that Egyptian authorities had accused Qatar of speaking negatively about Egypt with the US Congress and that it (meaning Egypt) had no right to get angry in light of its long standing relations with the United States.

Egypt was one of the key countries in the region to have chosen not to attend MENA conference. The Egyptian press has been criticizing Qatar for holding this conference over the last few weeks. Qatar barred all Egyptian citizens from entering the country one month ago until further notice. It had also suspended all residency and work permits to be given to Egyptians willing to live and work in Qatar.