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The deal at Al-Ula reflected Qatar’s determination to achieve a close to the three and a half-year boycott, but only on terms that didn’t compromise Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, sources in Doha told GSN. “Qatar has been ready to come to the table for a while, so long as they didn’t have to cross red lines,” a Doha-based analyst said – which would mean not cutting ties with Iran and Turkey, or declaring the Houthis in Yemen or Al-Ikhwan Al-Muslimeen (the Muslim Brotherhood) are ‘terrorists’.

The approaching political transition in the United States is focusing minds across the region. It could lead to at least a partial diplomatic resolution of the Qatar dispute, which has been the defining feature of relations within the Gulf Co-operation Council since June 2017. Saudi Arabia’s public tone has softened, but there are fewer signs of movement from Abu Dhabi.

Dubai’s head of general security and deputy police chief Lieutenant General Dahi Khalfan Tamim on 6 June launched another of his idiosyncratic attacks on social media, advocating an invasion of Qatar and the arrest of “a young boy”, a reference to Qatar’s Emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani. The tweets inevitably generated a storm of heated responses. General Tamim is a controversial figure. When GSN last met him, in the receiving line for a diplomatic reception, he appeared to be an enthusiastic follower of the history of 20th century Germany (where he owns a home).

Isolated by its erstwhile ‘GCC-3’ allies, Qatar gave some very public thanks to those who had stuck by it following the boycott launched by Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt in June 2017 when, in the first half of October, it invited senior officials and companies from the likes of Iran, Azerbaijan and Tajikistan to Doha to share a stage with Qatari government ministers.

GCC: The Co-operation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf (GCC) was set up on 25 May 1981 in Abu Dhabi, when the leaders of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates agreed to establish a council whose aims were to “achieve unity”, formulate “similar regulations” for the economics, customs, commerce, communications, education and culture sectors, and to stimulate scientific and technological progress.

The International Monetary Fund said the economic impact of the diplomatic rift between Qatar and the GCC-3 is fading, in its latest Article IV review issued on 5 March. While trade flows and the banking system were both affected by the blockade, the IMF said Qatar had adjusted to its new reality. New trade routes have been established, local banks have been supported by liquidity from Qatar Central Bank and public sector deposits, while banks have found new sources of non-GCC funding.

Doha has been busy setting up new trade links and expanding its logistics options in the wake of the blockade led by neighbours Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE (the ‘GCC-3’). Iran sent its first shipment of food, consisting of 180 tonnes of fruit and vegetables, on 14 June. That has been followed by many more consignments arriving via air and sea. New cargo services have been launched between Hamad port and both Sohar port in Oman and Mundra and Nhava Sheva ports in India.

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani named foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Bin Jassim Al-Thani as prime minister in March, following the resignation of Sheikh Khalid Bin Khalifa Bin Abdelaziz Al-Thani, who had been premier since January 2020. Tamim’s youngest full-brother Khalifa Bin Hamad Al-Thani  was named interior minister, a position Khalid Bin Khalifa had also held.

Probably not the region’s worst offender, Doha has bristled about western criticism of its human rights record before and during the football World Cup, with comments from German government ministers proving a particular irritation. However, European politicians have other concerns about Qatari actions closer to home, with a corruption scandal involving alleged influence-peddling in the European Parliament among the issues that could threaten Doha’s perceptions of which allies are most worth cultivating.

Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani hosted United States secretary of state Antony Blinken for the fifth round of the US-Qatar Strategic Dialogue on 22 November, just as the football Fifa World Cup was getting under way. On the agenda were the Iran nuclear deal, instability in Iraq, Lebanon, Libya and Palestine, and food and fuel security issues.

A summit of regional leaders, held in Abu Dhabi on 18 January, appeared to be hastily arranged and did not include representatives from Saudi Arabia or Kuwait. It has nevertheless prompted widespread speculation about what may have been discussed and the meeting’s wider meaning. Such interest reflects its host’s apparently ever increasing prominence in international affairs.

Sheikh Abdelaziz Bin Thani Bin Khalid Al-Thani has been named chief executive of Qatar Media Corporation, (QMC) stepping up from his previous position as general manager of the Qatar TV channel.

Qatar has finally completed the demarcation of its border with Saudi Arabia, agreed in 2001. Social media posts in early November showed a Qatari flag being raised on land to the south of the Khor Al-Udeid inlet in the peninsula’s south-east, at a place called Ras Al-Qasasir. Previously Saudi Arabia had a maritime border with Qatar in the inlet – which is so narrow in places that beach goers on the Qatari side could wave at the Saudi guards on the opposite bank.

Qatar has spent more on lobbying UK members of parliament over the past year than any other GCC country, according to analysis of perks reported to the House of Commons.

Manama and Doha took a significant step towards reconciliation at the Jeddah Summit for Security and Development, with a face-to-face meeting between Bahraini King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani.