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Davos 2023: Qatar’s foreign minister on the importance of dialogue
Qatar’s foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, sat down with CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and reiterated Qatar’s stance on a number of global and regional issues: dialogue.
At the WEF in Davos, the minister agreed that recent measures taken by Afghanistan’s Taliban-led administration were “very disappointing”, but that Doha will continue to engage with them and “find a solution through dialogue”. He told CNBC’s Hadley Gamble that “Qatar stands by the women of Afghanistan”.
According to Reuters, Qatar is consulting with other Muslim countries to establish a dialogue with Taliban officials in Kandahar, the minister explained, and while it would “not be an easy job” it was important to keep trying.
When asked about Qatar’s stance on the ongoing war Russia wages on Ukraine, the foreign minister reminded CNBC that Qatar believes in dialogue and condemns the use of force and the invasion of a sovereign country and that their votes at the United Nations should speak to that stance.
Regarding the current investigation into allegations of bribed EU parliamentarians, allegedly involving Morocco and Qatar, minister Al-Thani explained that Qatar awaits the results of the investigation but deems it unfair that their country has been “dragged” into this ordeal before the Belgian authorities have reached a conclusion. The ongoing investigation prevents Qatar from engaging with them and clearing their name.
Qatar’s desire for dialogue comes into play yet again with regard to the unfair press coverage during the World Cup leading Minister Al-Thani to tell CNBC that the western media’s “systematic” damning of Qatar’s hosting of the World Cup displayed “a sense of superiority and arrogance”. Qatar had previously complained that the western press had refused to dialogue with Qatar in order to better understand issues, playing into stereotypes and failing to properly fact-check.
