Qatar taunts GCC for ‘lacking teeth

Qatar’s foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said on Saturday that the Gulf Cooperation Council(GCC) as presently constituted ‘has no teeth’.

Instead, he advocated that regional alliances need to be reshaped and new governance principles need to be put in place.

He spoke at the annual Doha Forum.

The foreign minister said his country is still counting on Kuwait and other regional powers to help solve the Gulf crisis and revive the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

“The (Kuwait) Emir has had a big leadership role in calming the situation which is highly appreciated by Qatar. We continue to count on the role of Kuwait and on the countries in the region to bring it (the GCC) back together,” Sheikh Mohammed told the annual Doha Forum.

“…We believe that we are more relevant as a bloc for those countries than we are separate and fragmented,” he added.

Saudi Arabia and its allies imposed a diplomatic and economic boycott of Qatar in June 2017, accusing it of cozying up to their regional rival Iran and supporting terrorism.

Doha has denied these allegations.