Link to article: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/14/sisi-visit-to-doha-ends-as-egypt-and-qatar-signal-stronger-ties
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has concluded his two day visit to Qatar after meeting with the Gulf state´s emir, Sheik Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. They signed multiple deals together in order to bolster business investments and the economy. This is a sign that the two countries are mending ties and are learning to work together. In one of the meetings between the two leaders , there was a signing of three memorandums of understanding, one regarding their respective sovereign wealth funds. In a tweet by Sheikh Tamim, he stated ¨I was pleased by the visit to Doha by my brother President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, which strengthened Qatari-Egyptian relations and allowed us to discuss ways to achieve the aspirations of our two brotherly peoples in strengthening those relations as well as serving the causes of our Arab and Islamic nations, and supporting security, peace and stability in our region.
Relations with Qatar and Egypt have not always been rosey. In 2017, Egypt, along with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, boycotted Qatar in order to force Doha to change its regional policies. These countries claimed that Qatar supported terrorism and Qatar denied claims of this. This ended last year and since Qatar and Egypt have been attempting to rebuild destroyed relations. These relations are key to prosperity because Egypt has been suffering ever since the war on Ukraine began. Lots of financial pressure has been placed on Egypt due to loss in tourism and global prices rising. Egypt has also been suffering from a food shortage. Egypt also failed to secure an important investment when Qatar planned to invest $5 billion, while the hydrocarbon giant QatarEnergy made a deal with the U.S energy company ExxonMobil to acquire a 40 percent stake in gas exploration block off Egypt in the Mediterranean Sea. Egypt failing to secure the necessary foreign investments has put a major strain on the people and its economy.
Qatar and Egypt can both be defined as countries because they both are politically organized with sovereignty with a permanent population and legitimate governments. Qatar has not always been recognized as a country, however. The U.S finally recognized Qatar as a country in 1971 after being considered a protectorate under Great Britain after their treaties had finally expired. It has since become one of the world´s largest producer of oil and gas. Egypt was also not always independent, and finally became a country in 1922 following petitions and protests of British rule.