January 4, 2021 Saudi Arabia opened its land border with neighboring country Qatar. Kuwait’s foreign minister stated that it is set to reopen its airspace and sea border as well. With the announcement coming hours before the Gulf Cooperation Council summit (GCC) it is coming clear that a political dispute that led to a boycott on Qatar is coming to an end. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Egypt imposed a diplomatic, trade, and travel ban on Qatar back in 2017. The reason for the boycott was because of the countries accusing Doha of supporting “terrorism” and having ties with Iran. Qatar claimed that the allegations were not justified and the severance of the boycott were too extreme. Qatar is not allowing non-resident visitors into the country due to COVID-19. At the border reports were seen saying that it was more quiet than usual. Qatar’s leader Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani headed to Saudi Arabia in preparation for the GCC summit and finally put an end to the boycott.
With Saudi Arabia opening its borders with Qatar is a start to hopefully a new friendship. With tensions being tight between the two countries in my opinion I think Saudi Arabia hopes to become close allies again. With the summit approaching a final end to the boycott will be coming soon with Saudi Arabia being the first one to open its borders and air travel back up between the countries. There will always be a grudge on the countries due to these restrictions upon one another. There is still a lot of work to be done to rebuild a foundation and this foundation is barely standing.
Bahrain, UAE, Saudi Arabia all having alliances with one another shows how powerful they can be in that area. All 3 having extraordinary wealth per capita with the large oil reserves in the country can set restrictions on what countries receive oil and have access to control the tax. From a liberal perspective, reciprocity can be seen in this area with the United States providing support to Qatar with Qatar providing an ideal location in the middle east for a airbase and also has access to large oil reserves.