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The work schedule is unrelenting for Qatari Prime Minister and foreign affairs minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Bin Jassim Al-Thani, who flew into Manama for talks with Bahraini Prime Minister and Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa on 17 November – to cement bilateral ties as well as discuss the situation in Gaza. 

In a major coup for Qatar, Doha has been credited with brokering a four-day truce in Gaza, which was due to come into effect as GSN was going to press, in a deal where Hamas would start freeing its 7 October hostages while Israel releases Palestinian prisoners from its jails. There is still a huge amount of work to do by international partners if a wider peace settlement is to be achieved, but what is clear is that Qatari actors have emerged as international players after years of effort to position Doha as a deal-broker that can be all things to all men.

Plans to build the 'Friendship Bridge' between Bahrain and Qatar have been revived, during a visit by Qatari foreign affairs minister and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Bin Jassim Al-Thani to Manama in November.

Qatar Foundation (QF) chair Sheikha Moza Bint Nasser led a roundtable discussion in Doha in November to review the humanitarian situation in Gaza and ways to provide support to Palestinians.

Hussein Ali Saleh Al-Fadala has taken up his position as Qatar's first consul general in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Qatar opened its consulate in Erbil during the summer.

China LNG deals: QatarEnergy has been lining up long-term sales contracts for its major North Field developments. It signed a deal on 4 November to sell 3m t/yr of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to China Petrochemical Corporation (Sinopec) over 27 years from the North Field South (NFS) expansion project. This followed a string of similar deals with European energy majors

The Qatar-headquartered International Union of Muslim Scholars (Iums) has called for urgent military intervention in Gaza. Founded and formerly headed by Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, a senior Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimeen figure who died in September 2022, Iums is generally regarded as the primary religious authority guiding Hamas.

Qatari Sheikha Sara Bint Hamad Al-Thani, a little-known daughter of Father Emir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, graduated with a master’s degree from the Joaan Bin Jassim Academy for Defence Studies.

Doha's relations with India have soured, after a Qatar court handed down the death sentence to eight Indians arrested in August 2022.

Even before the new Gaza war shattered comfortable assumptions about regional security, the global economic climate had been hostile, as shown in analysis of the International Monetary Fund's new reports on the global outlook and regional economic performance.

Governments across the region are trying to ensure the war between Hamas and Israel doesn’t escalate, with potentially disastrous expansion to other fronts. Meanwhile the monarchies and others are trying to assuage the anger many of their citizens feel towards Israel’s actions in Gaza, in a conflict that has profoundly upset recent comfortable assumptions about the regional status quo.

UAE minister of state Sheikh Shakhbout Bin Nahyan Al-Nahyan and his Qatari counterpart Mohammed Bin Abdelaziz Bin Saleh Al-Khulaifi led their countries' delegations at the fourth meeting of the Quint Group on Somalia, held in Ankara. Others in the meeting included representatives of Somalia, Türkiye, the UK and the US.

Qatar Airways chief executive Akbar Al-Baker announced his retirement after 27 years at the helm – during which time the national carrier has been transformed beyond recognition. He will be replaced by Hamad International Airport chief operating officer Badr Mohammed Al-Meer.

QatarEnergy has signed a series of long-term agreements with European partners on the North Field expansion projects in recent weeks. Separately, QatarEnergy's agents were also in London agreeing LNG deliveries with brokers. 

Sheikh Mubarak Bin Fahad Bin Jassim Bin Mohammed Al-Thani was named as Qatar's ambassador to Oman. Mubarak has previously served as ambassador to Azerbaijan (2008-14) and Serbia (2015-21).