Here’s what’s happened since last week’s updates: Blockade of Qatar enters its third year -- GCC Crisis Updates Week 105
H.E. Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said Monday that the State of Qatar and other countries are urging Iran and the U.S. to de-escalation, calling on both sides to meet and find a compromise.
"We believe that at one point there should an engagement - it cannot last forever like this," HE the Foreign Minister told reporters in London.
"Since they are not willing to engage in further escalation, they should come up with ideas that open the doors," His Excellency added.
Qatar has placed further restrictions on First Abu Dhabi Bank, the United Arab Emirates’ largest lender, as it continues a probe into alleged currency manipulation begun after the UAE and other Arab states launched a boycott against Qatar in mid-2017, reported Reuters. The Regulatory Authority of Qatar Financial Center (QFC) said on Sunday it was prohibiting First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) from undertaking any new business for customers of its Doha branch.
In a statement on Sunday, QFC said the new bar was “because FAB continues to fail to satisfy the Regulatory Authority of its fitness and propriety in respect of its conduct in the QFC”.
Qatar Airways plans to seek compensation from Boeing over the grounding of three 737 MAX aircraft by Italian airline Air Italy, where the Qatari company is a major shareholder, group chief executive Akbar al-Baker told Reuters.
Boeing MAX jets have been grounded worldwide and airlines are cancelling multimillion contracts following crashes in October and March that killed nearly 350 people.
“At Qatar Airways we do not operate any MAX airplanes – it affected our investment into Air Italy. Air Italy has three MAX operated in its fleet and they were grounded so it affected us – we had to take extra routing from outside,” al-Baker said.
In 2017, Qatar purchased 49% of Air Italy, Italy’s second largest carrier behind Alitalia, which, in turn, is partly owned by Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Airways.
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