link: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2021/1/5/qatars-emir-heads-to-saudi-arabia-for-gcc-summit-live-news
Saudi Arabia recently announced the end of a three year trade cutoff with Qatar. As discussed in one of my earlier posts, Saudi Arabia cut ties with Qatar after suspecting them of supporting terrorist groups, Qatar denied these allegations. Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister says Saudi Arabia, Egypt, UAE, and Bahrain all agree to fully restore ties with Qatar. This announcement was made shortly after the Gulf Cooperation Council signed a “solidarity and stability” agreement in Saudi Arabia. Although this is an important moment for the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the relationship between the two countries is far from fully healed, it will take a lot more time and a lot more agreements.
This agreement is huge not only for the countries involved, but the Middle East as a whole. A rekindled relationship between Saudi Arabia and Qatar could mean huge trade opportunities through the Persian Gulf. This agreement is also very beneficial for the six countries in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) as it will strengthen the organization while all of these countries are on good terms. More specifically, the “solidarity and stability agreement” could help Kuwait escape from the economic crisis they are currently facing through potential oil distribution to Qatar. I believe this agreement was made because Saudi Arabia realized the economic prosperity they could have if they were in contact with Qatar. But as I said before this relationship is far from being healed, Saudi Arabia and Qatar may have trade ties now, but they still have completely different ideological beliefs that are much more difficult to solve.
This is event has much to do with geopolitics, and I feel that Qatar’s geographical location is much of the reason that Saudi Arabia ended this blockade. With Qatar being a peninsula in the Persian Gulf, they have huge trade opportunities, even with Asian countries. And although Saudi Arabia’s coast is along the Gulf, Qatar’s ports are seen first. So using a geopolitical analysis, we can infer that Saudi Arabia saw how much more success they could have in the trade industry through Qatar, because not only would they be able to possibly use their ports, but all countries in the GCC would then be able to work together and find great success through trade.