Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Ahmed Nasser Al-Sabah said that progress has been made towards ending the Arab Gulf dispute with Qatar.

In a televised statement, he said, “all parties involved in recent talks affirmed their keenness on Gulf and Arab solidarity and stability and expressed their desire to find a final and lasting solution to the GCC crisis for the benefit of their people.”

As a result, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan said: “We have made great progress in recent days, thanks to the continuous efforts of Kuwait and to the strong support of US President Donald Trump.

“We hope that this progress will result in a final agreement that appears within reach, and I can say that I am optimistic that we are close to concluding an agreement between all the countries that are in disagreement.”

It is clear, as of now while writing this article, that we are seeing optimistic statements all of which justify the necessity of achieving this peace now between the Gulf countries — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain, besides Egypt, with Qatar for the sake of the unity and cohesion of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The truth is that the GCC has gone through many challenges over the past four decades, the consequences of which have surpassed the current crisis or those that preceded it with Qatar, and yet the Council, led by Saudi Arabia, passed through them to safety, and that is with the cooperation of its sister States.

The fear for the GCC is justified, and therefore there were several statements about the need for the Gulf security coordination, and for Gulf-Gulf relations to be good, hoping to cut off the road to Iran, and of course Turkey too.

This was evident in the Vision of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman in 2015 that aimed at achieving the desired integration of the GCC in the security, political, military and economic sectors, and hence no one wants to divide the Council and its States.

Likewise, no one wants to shake the relationship of the GCC with Egypt, which is the cornerstone of security and stability in the region. This makes it imperative to strengthen this relationship, as it is very important to protect Arab national security and achieve higher common interests.

Therefore, what is required now, and in the event of reconciliation, is to ensure that there is a mechanism for resolving differences and disputes that occur in the Council, and that would be practical, in order to ensure that the main issues do not recur, especially since the differences are real, and that affect our security and our existence.

It also affects the security and the entity of the GCC as a whole. There must be a mechanism to ensure that we learn from experiences and not repeat those things that undermine our security.

The differences are fundamental and existential, and that do not end only with a handshake, but with real change. This should be coupled with proper awareness about the importance of the council’s entity, and before that the security and stability of countries.

And I say it again that no one is upset with reconciliation, if it happens, especially if it is based on pragmatic foundations and real guarantees. What is important, and most important, is that we not test the examiner.

— The writer can be reached at tariq@al-homayed.com