Turkish president, Kuwaiti emir meet amid Arab states dispute

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has held talks with Kuwait's emir amid the ongoing conflict between a bloc of Arab states and Qatar.

According to Kuwait’s state-run news agency KUNA, Erdogan and Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah discussed "regional and international developments" during their Tuesday meeting at Bayan Palace in the Kuwait city.

The two sides also discussed "means to improve cooperation on all fronts" between the two nations and also signed a direct investment agreement.

During the visit, Turkey and Kuwait's military chiefs of staff held talks on "developing and strengthening" military cooperation,” the report said.

Following his tour of Kuwait, Erdogan is set to visit Doha on Wednesday.

Kuwait and Turkey have been leading mediating efforts between Qatar and four other Arab states since their dispute flared up this summer.

Back in June, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) imposed a trade and diplomatic embargo on Qatar, accusing Doha of supporting terrorism, an allegation strongly denied by the emirate.

Turkey has sided with Qatar during the crisis, offering it their airspaces after the sanctioning countries blocked Qatari flights from their skies and sending it food supplies.

The Saudi-led bloc presented Qatar with a list of demands, among them downgrading ties with Iran, and gave it an ultimatum to comply with them or face consequences. Doha, however, refused to meet the demands and said that they were meant to force the country to surrender its sovereignty.

On Tuesday, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said the Saudi-led bloc is not interested in finding a solution to the Persian Gulf diplomatic crisis, saying that his country is "a thousand times better off" without them.

Read more:

• Qatar emir: Saudi-led bloc not after crisis resolution

The Qatari Emir, however, reaffirmed his country’s resolve to settle the issue through dialogue.

Qatar has launched an investigation into an alleged plot to manipulate its currency during the early weeks of its diplomatic crisis with the four Arab states.

Doha says an unnamed global financial institution, partly owned by Emirati investors, had been ordered to stop trading Qatari riyals across Europe and Asia.

Under the plan, the UAE sought to target Qatar’s currency “using bonds and derivatives manipulation.”

The plot allegedly aimed to cause Qatar’s economy to collapse, and eventually portray Doha as incapable of hosting World Cup 2022.

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