Qatar’s ambassador to Egypt Salem bin Mubarak al-Shafi said on Wednesday that he and his country seek to achieve “the maximum possible rapprochement in Qatari-Egyptian bilateral relations.”“Egypt is a country with strategic weight, and its pivotal role in the region cannot be neglected,” he added. The Qatari ambassador’s statements are the first after handing over his credentials as an extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of Qatar to Egypt. He stressed that Egypt and Qatar “Are brothers, and we have deep ties of identity, language, and social and cultural heritage. The Emir of the State of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani issued a decree in September appointing Salem bin Mubarak Al Shafi, ambassador extraordinary to Egypt, after a rupture since mid-2017. Shafi held several positions in the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the latest of which was serving as Doha’s ambassador to Turkey.
