EU supports only Kuwaiti mediation to defuse Gulf tensions

EU High Representative Federica Mogherini expressed Friday the European Union's full support to mediation efforts by His Highness the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to defuse tensions in the Gulf region.

Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Qatari foreign minister Sheikh Mohammad Al-Thani in Brussels this evening, she said the EU has two main messages for the Gulf countries. "One is avoid any further escalation and second engage in a political dialogue in particular taking advantage of the mediation efforts that Kuwait is putting in place," she said.

"We do not want to multiply mediation efforts. For us it is clear that there is one mediation effort in place that is the one which succeeded during a similar but less dramatic crisis in 2014. We believe that the Kuwait effort can be the one succeeding. We support their work and we have put the EU help and support at their disposal to accompany it in the best possible manner," she stressed.

Mogherini said she had a long telephone conversation with the Kuwaiti First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah yesterday, and just before today's meeting Mogherini had a second phone call in 24 hours with the Saudi foreign minister Adel Al Jubeir.

Mogherini said she will continue contact with the parties in the coming days "always with one purpose to support the work that Kuwait is doing." She said she had a "very long, substantial and good meeting" with the Qatari foreign minister who arrived in Brussels from Berlin and departed for Moscow. He did not make any statements to the press.

Mogherini said the EU has good relations with all the Gulf Cooperation Council countries and "we will keep good relations will all countries in the Gulf. "We also believe that regional cooperation in the Gulf and around the Gulf is key to have an effective work on counter terrorism," she said.

"We have a direct EU interest because of the work on security. We are together in the coalition against Daesh we are together in our efforts to find a way out of Syrian crisis besides economic and trade interests," she noted.

"The region of the Gulf has to understand that what happens there is relevant for many parts of the world in term of security and stability," she said and warned that "we see a clear risk of the situation escalating further and spreading in an unpleasant and dangerous manner beyond the region of the Gulf." Mogherini added that she is ready to travel to the Gulf region if needed

Source: KUNA