AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE

CHANGING DYNAMICS IN THE GULF: A CONVERSATION WITH QATARI DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER AND FOREIGN MINISTER MOHAMMED BIN ABDULRAHMAN AL THANI

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS:

DANIELLE PLETKA, AEI

MODERATED DISCUSSION:

ANDREW BOWEN, AEI

HE MOHAMMED BIN ABDULRAHMAN AL THANI, STATE OF

9:00–10:00 AM FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2018

EVENT PAGE: http://www.aei.org/events/changing-dynamics-in-the-gulf-a- conversation-with-qatari-deputy-prime-minister-and-foreign-minister-mohammed- bin-abdulrahman-al-thani/

TRANSCRIPT PROVIDED BY DC TRANSCRIPTION — WWW.DCTMR.COM DANIELLE PLETKA: Good morning, everybody. Welcome to the American Enterprise Institute. Sorry for the brief delay, but I think you’ll find that this is a conversation that you’re going to find extraordinarily interesting.

We are delighted to welcome today His Excellency Sheik Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, who was appointed minister of foreign affairs for Qatar in 2016 and the deputy prime minister in 2017. He is responsible for all of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs issues, including planning, implementing foreign policy, and he’s here for a series of high-level conversations with the Department of Defense, the Department of State, and the White House that we are looking forward to hearing all of the details of.

What’s going to happen today? The minister will join us at the podium for a brief statement, and then he’s going to sit down on the stage with our visiting fellow — excuse me — I’m getting your title wrong, the easier one — with our visiting scholar Andrew Bowen for a conversation, which we’ll then open up to some questions from the audience.

There’s a lot to talk about here today. Qatar has been at the center of I think what we will all agree is an ugly disagreement among GCC countries and others, one that has really divided traditional US allies and has sowed some divisions I think even within the US government.

So we are really very interested to hear your perspective, Mr. Minister. Why don’t you — careful on the step — and if you would just join us on the stage.

MOHAMMED BIN ABDULRAHAM BIN JASSIM AL THANI: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you, Dani, for hosting me here, and thank you for inviting me today. I hope that today I’ll have the opportunity to shed the light on some of the issues in the Middle East and the turmoil which is taking place in our region, which is not affecting only the interest of the region and the state of Qatar, but affecting also the US interests. And I hope that I can propose some ideas for a way forward.

So the US and Qatar have been allies for 45 years. We have dozens of agreements that memorialize our commitment to each other. This week, our country met for an historic strategic dialogue and signed five additional agreements, including defending the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure for energy; strengthening trade, investment, and technology; developing international law enforcement to stop human trafficking; and continued joined defense commitments. The Qatari delegation could not have been welcomed with wider arms.

The US and Qatar have a unique partnership. When the US was searching for a home for its troops in the Middle East, Qatar welcomed them. Today, Qatar hosts the largest US military foreign air base in the world. In Qatar, 11,000 US troops, thousands of US teachers and students, and hundreds of US-owned companies are living and working in Qatar.

Qatar and the US are strategically located. We are surrounded by powerful players in the Middle East. Some of these nations are bent on intimidation, aggression, and dangerous flirtation with war. Make no mistake, these powers are feuding for domination, taking as prisoners not just the neighbors — (inaudible). The suffering inflicted by these power- hungry forces is not limited to the starvation and devastation in places like Yemen, Syria, and Somalia. The well-being of citizens within these dominating regimes is also being sacrificed in the power grab.

The illegal blockade started last year against Qatar is one of many instruments of sabotage intended to bully my country into submission. The world is discovering that the blockading states will stop at nothing: illegal market manipulation, different kind of aggressions, humanitarian assaults, silencing dissenters, weaponizing propaganda, and undermining the global fight against terrorism.

These intimidation methods threaten the success of all the agreements and investments between Qatar and the . There is a silver lining of this blockade. Qatar has been able to show the resilience and survive under siege. Other countries in the Middle East might not be able to withstand the trial of an attack as we have seen in example after example across the region.

Qatar joins the US passion for restoring regional security to the Middle East. The regional and short-term danger of aggression is happening before our eyes along a spectrum of devastation. The worldwide and long-term danger of aggression will eventually reach countries around the globe because these rulers will stop at nothing — intentional international destabilization of the energy and financial markets and, worse, by laying the groundwork for the next generation of terrorism.

Terrorism flourishes in oppressive, closed regimes where the needs and rights of the citizens are not met. While many reckless leaders surrounding us double down on hidden and oppressive means of governance, Qatar and many other nations in the Middle East hope to keep developing into nations that can provide justice and security to its citizens.

As I told Secretary Tillerson and Mattis, Qatar sees the US as a critical part of that vision. Ending the turmoil in the Middle East will take further leadership. Joint cooperation from all countries in the Middle East is necessary to restoring lasting security to the region. Qatar and the US have been fighting terrorism together for many years. We agree that terrorism must not be — must not only be destroyed through military efforts, but also by lifting up oppressed with vision of openness and hope — through lasting social transformations.

We have warned repeatedly that imposing repression of reform and development using the law of power instead of the power flow is detrimental to the global counterterrorism efforts. The US, Qatar, and the other 72 members of the coalition against ISIS have spent years crushing this evil. We don’t want to find ourselves in the same situation again and again. We need to work together to completely end terrorism financing, recruitment, propaganda, and extremist ideologies.

Wise leadership means put aside personal feelings to help the good of the people. It is Qatar’s hope that GCC can be rebuilt. The citizens of Qatar are forgiving and resilient people. We wish for unity. We can’t ignore the historic bond between the countries of the GCC and the shared family, cultural, and financial ties that can actually make us stronger. Qatar hopes for a restored GCC, which is more transparent and based on shared interests like trade and security.

This restored GCC would need to have a clear process for raising and resolving differences, would need to be void of forced compliance regarding foreign policy and decision concerning domestic affairs, would need to be governed by reason over impulse, and would need to serve the best interests of all its members.

Regarding the greater Middle East region, we cannot rebuild these devastated areas unless more diplomatic pressure is put on power-hungry players and the holistic security plan is established across the region. This security plan must find common ground, include an arbitration mechanism that gives the small and large nations equal protection and provide binding consequences for those who create a crisis and threaten security.

I hope the international community will join me in calling for an immediate regional strategic dialogue to agree upon common principles of coexistence, which can serve as a foundation to healing and ultimately prosperity for the region. Thank you. (Applause.)

ANDREW BOWEN: Thank you again for being here at AEI. I wanted to kind of touch on a point that you stressed about kind of the future of the GCC. We look at — like, you were in Kuwait this past December, and I believe this was the first time yourself and his highness were with your GCC counterparts in many months. And the meeting ended quite abruptly. Has there been — and certainly since your visit here, has there been any indications of you seeing any optimism on the road to a potential kind of resolution or dialogue, whether that be convened by President Trump or more specifically convened by Kuwait? Or are we still at an impasse?

HIS EXCELLENCY: Qatar remains calling for the dialogue and supporting the initiative of the emir of Kuwait when he offered to mediate between the Gulf countries and also accepted the invitation which was issued by the president to call all the GCC members to Camp David in order to see a solution for this. But when you have a conflict between parties and one of the parties is unwilling to engage in a dialogue or unwilling to engage toward a solution, then this dialogue, even if would resolve anything, it won’t resolve positive results because of the bad intention behind the willingness.

The GCC summit was an opportunity, which we believed in Qatar that at least for the first time, the leaders will see each other face to face. And we were surprised at the last moment that they have canceled their attendance and downgraded their representation to the GCC meeting. So for us, we have done everything in our hands, showing the goodwill toward the solution, but it needs a response for the other side, which is not there yet.

DR. BOWEN: And do you think that like just kind of — the number of issues that typically have been raised by your neighbors have been everything from media to interference in — Qatar’s interference, they allege, in the neighbor’s affairs since 2014 — that if there is a dialogue point, as you said, it does not appear that there is much momentum or will on your neighbors’ side for such dialogue that. Do you see that this has a potential opportunity that in light of President Trump’s kind of — first the phone call with the emir earlier this month, then potentially hosting a Camp David–style summit later in the spring, would there be — does this give a window to at least find an opportunity for to kind of — to have a proactive window to kind of find a way to bridge some of those differences? Or do you think that there’s no real — there’s too much light?

HIS EXCELLENCY: We consider the meeting in itself and the leaders meeting together as at least a step toward success. But they should be driven by their willingness. It cannot be driven by force. And we need the good intention. We need them to really prioritize what are the needs for this needless crisis. Even the secretary of state has mentioned that this unnecessary crisis being created out of this stable region. Any light can be seen at the end of the tunnel if we are agreeing on the principles that all the countries are equal — there’s no difference between the big and the small country. All the countries enjoy the same rights and are obliged to fulfill the same responsibilities.

And new principles would govern this relationship between all the countries. We cannot go back before the 5th of June with the same nature of relationship. There’s a lot of trust been lost throughout this crisis. And we hope that will be restored one day but needs a lot of time to be rebuilt again.

DR. BOWEN: And do you see kind of now looking at — have you mentioned a mechanism for kind of a degree of monitoring and kind of accountability to rebuild those principles? Do you think at the moment that the United States is — and with the secretary of state has been quite active in mediation, that there’s a moment for more enhanced US leadership in bringing the parties to the table for such a mechanism? Because it strikes me at times that, frankly, as much as the emir of Kuwait has made many efforts that those have not always been that received in Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. And there’s a point — I think many kind of increasingly see it as kind of a deadlock. And to break that you see this as a potential opportunity for Washington or for maybe Doha to propose kind of a set of those principles to bring —

HIS EXCELLENCY: Well, definitely the intervention of the United States will make a big difference and especially when it comes from the highest level by the president himself, who expressed his commitment to see an end for this crisis. And he always called for a united Gulf country. Whenever he has a phone conversation or a meeting with the emir, he always stresses on the importance of the Gulf countries to come back together. And what also we believe in that we need to start a just and fair process. And the secretary of state who was visiting the region earlier at the crisis, he started to propose some good proposals, which are — can become a baseline for further negotiation. And Qatar was very responsive to those proposals, and we also — we send back our amendment and what we thought about.

But the same thing — if it’s ignored by the other side, we cannot do anything. We cannot have any breakthrough without them.

DR. BOWEN: And looking at the state of the US relationship, I think there has certainly been criticism by members of Congress to a letter to Nikki Haley about the state of the MOU. And certainly to agree that the MOU is not public, but there has also been kind of a view in some corners of Congress and others that — has the MOU done enough? Has it gone far enough? I think the State Department certainly has publicly been supportive of it, but for kind of a more — for the broader kind of American public and those who were not part of those negotiations, like is there any way to shed some light on what is the MOU and where it’s headed? Is this a first step? Will there be additional steps taken to address issues on terrorism financing and mechanisms?

HIS EXCELLENCY: First of all, to set the record clear, the MOU, which was signed between Qatar and the United States, was just part of the outcomes of the president’s visit to the GCC and the meeting between Qatar and the other GCC countries. Qatar, the first country which signed into this process. And this process’s objective is to build capacity within the countries of the GCC starting a monitoring mechanism to hinder terrorism financing and also to develop the regulatory framework for the charities work. And then when we establish a very clear and very transparent plan with milestones, which are achieved by timeframe and by everything.

And I believe that there are some of the members of the Congress already been — they have looked at it, and they know the progress we have achieved in this. And also there is a very clear and straightforward recognition by the State Department and by the other departments of the progress in the counterterrorism front. And there is a clear statement that Qatar and the United States are partners in the fight against terror. And we provided a lot in this fight. It’s not only the terrorism-financing front, but even in the military aspect of it.

DR. BOWEN: And do you see that, then, as at the state of will you do it in say six months, kind of a temperature check on the progress that was made so far in the MOU and then is there discussion to further enhance that? Or do you think that currently the steps that have been taken so far from both Washington and Doha to address some of the issues that — and certainly some have been largely raised in the media, but to address that from that step? Or is this a beginning framework or —

HIS EXCELLENCY: The MOU is an ongoing process. It’s not something which we’re — which has just a milestone and then we will stop the cooperation. So there are some issues which can be translated to a milestone can be achieved, but there are other issues which are continuous coordination, which we already have with the United States. And we have like a periodic joint review between Qatar and the United States, which is I think every three months.

I’m not so familiar with the timeframe of it. So the US and the Qatari task force are meeting together and reviewing the progress. And everything is progressing very well. And some of the items are ahead of schedule already.

DR. BOWEN: I think it’s often been noted that Qatar was the first country to sign an MOU on that, and there’s still other GCC members that have not. Is the ideal path to eventually try to interlink to get Kuwait, the UAE, Saudi to also agree to those similar standards on those benchmarks to try to — it strikes me that a lot of the terrorism finance issues are, frankly, not just defined by borders, but is more kind of a transregional challenge.

HIS EXCELLENCY: It’s a challenge everywhere, not only in Qatar and not only in the GCC countries but even elsewhere. And the evolution of this phenomenon of terrorism has been very rapid, especially in the last few years. So most of the legislations and the capabilities within those countries couldn’t keep up with this evolution.

Regarding the GCC and the framework of the GCC and its relation with the MOU, actually it was part of our agreement as GCC countries along with the United States to enhance and develop our capabilities in terrorism finance — countering terrorism financing in partnership with the United States, and each country should carry out this bilaterally. And Qatar started this right away after the meeting. The other countries, they have to join, and I don’t know what’s their status until now.

DR. BOWEN: So looking at a few regional issues and then kind of open up some to the audience. And one to look at is has taken a strong position in support of Qatar against and the UAE. What are the larger implications of a stronger relationship with Tehran at the moment?

HIS EXCELLENCY: Well, first, we need to understand the geography of the region. If you look at Qatar’s map, we have one land border, which is via Saudi Arabia, and it’s been blockaded on the 5th of June without even any notification before this. So it is the only way to supply the and medicine and the other supplies for the country. From the eastern side, we have UAE, and we have this territorial water which we are sharing together and the sky — the skies, which shows the territorial skies with UAE. And from the other side, you have Bahrain. Iran is the only path forward from the north. Qatar is sharing borders with Iran, is sharing our largest gas field with Iran, so for sure we will have this communication.

After the blockade, the only way forward for our planes to — and for our ships to bring the supplies for our people — the food supplies, the medicine supplies — it’s just by Iran. We don’t have any other access to bring our stuff from. This doesn’t mean that we have an agreement with Iran or Qatar is closer with Iran policies. This is never the case for us. We always distinguish between the economic relation and the political relationship. We comply with the international law in politics. We disagree with Iran policies in many places.

Qatar — when it comes to Qatar’s policy in Syria, we are on the other side of the equation. When it comes to Qatar’s policy in Iraq, we are on the other side. When it comes to Qatar’s policy in Yemen, we are on the other side. But the way forward to overcome these challenges is not in the battlefield. It’s not by confrontation. We are sitting together in one region. We have to reach an understanding that each other should — we should respect each other’s sovereignty. We should respect — we should agree on common principles of security and coexistence — that no one’s interfering in the other country’s affairs, that no one launches any hostility against any other country.

We don’t believe that those proxies should continue, and the people of those wonderful countries, they are the ones who are going to pay the price. So we believe in dialogue. And that’s why always the channels of dialogue need to be open.

DR. BOWEN: And looking at kind of the broader —President Trump’s statements on pushing back Iran and kind of a more enhanced regional strategy, do you see like on Qatar certainly it’s — with Doha, with CENTCOM and having one of the largest military bases in the region that in light of kind of some of Doha’s geopolitical realities and dealing with Iranian proxies, whether it be in Syria, in Iraq or Lebanon or Yemen, that at the moment that the steps to build off of the president’s visit to Riyadh last year, that there are some tangible areas where during your visit that you see as opportunities to kind of make progress on decreasing the behavior of Iran’s proxies in the region?

HIS EXCELLENCY: The only way forward will be a political solution. There is no military solution for any conflict in the region. If you will look at what’s happening in those proxies’ areas like Yemen, what is the price the people of Yemen are paying right now? There are more than 20 million people are in need, and they are suffering from starvation. Syria, more than 500,000 being killed in Syria. Iraq now is starting to — the stability is starting to be restored after the — (inaudible) — a lot of people have been displaced, living as refugees, they are suffering from security issues.

We are not the ones who are paying the price of those proxies. The people of Iraq and the people of Yemen, the people of Syria, do they deserve that we continue this war and this pressure on them until we achieve objective in order to bring Iran to the table and then solve the issue? They don’t deserve it. I think we need to stop everything right now and to agree on the principles that everybody should adhere to. At the end, we will resort to dialogue. Let us cut the way short and start the dialogue.

DR. BOWEN: Do you see that at the moment any space for political dialogue on Yemen to potentially —

HIS EXCELLENCY: Of course, there will always be a space for critical dialogue. This is what Qatar believes. Qatar believes that everybody should be forced to dialogue. We should stop supporting anyone who just wants to fuel a fire and to fuel a war. This is something we have seen now the results of the last few years. The results are awful in the region, catastrophic situation in our region.

Our region is rich. Our region has a lot of resources, and our biggest problem is security. Our people are feeling insecure. And now, with all these wars, we didn’t see any positive progress out of it. We’ve just seen terrorism movement, moving around in the countries, more chaos means more terrorists, more chaos means more people in need, more chaos means that those countries will take a longer time to rebuild themselves again and to become countries again.

DR. BOWEN: Kind of looking at more broadly — it was announced in recent days that is expanding its military commitment to Qatar, and certainly there’s been a number of bilateral visits between Ankara and Doha. Like how do you kind of see the direction of your relationship with Doha? Do you see that — and what Erdogan’s intentions are in this relationship?

HIS EXCELLENCY: First of all, Turkey is an important country in our region. It has very strategic location. It is a world player. It’s a member of NATO, and it’s the second largest force in NATO, so it’s within the pack of the allies of Qatar as well. And also if you will look at the bilateral relationship between Qatar and Turkey, we have a lot of common interests together. We have a strong strategic relationship.

Turkey stood with Qatar during this crisis when it comes to supplies, when it comes to whatever support we have requested from them. And we have very good relationship when it comes to defense and to economic relationship. There is — whatever they are announcing about the military deployment, the Turkish military deployment in Qatar, it’s nothing related to the security situation of the region. This is a defense cooperation agreement, which Qatar signed way before any crisis. We have signed it in 2014, end of 2014, December 2014, and it’s — the same agreement also allowing the Qatari forces to be in Incirlik to participate in the fight against Daesh. And the same agreement is allowing them to use our bases also to contribute to the coalition. And added to this, the bilateral defense relationship between the countries.

DR. BOWEN: I think kind of a final question on the regional issues is more looking at your relationship with Moscow and with President Putin, the kind of announcement or the press reporting of a potential sale of the S-400 system to Doha and how potential complications that could prove to have with CENTCOM and also under US Treasury sanction law. Is there a certain area of — is the value of a potential S-400 system a defense, a potential defensive measure against — in light of the current regional environment, or is this still kind of how — because of this balancing as Qatar navigates a relationship with Washington but also with Moscow and others, or is it being overly read into the — if this is more speculation — the sale?

HIS EXCELLENCY: There is nothing solid yet. And what I can assure you that Qatar always ensuring the compliance with the international law and also with the sanctions system here, the sanctions regime in the United States. So we are taking everything in consideration. We have a very strong relationship with the United States, and we have also a relationship with other countries. But nothing yet, I mean, in terms of signing a deal or not.

DR. BOWEN: So I do think there’s a degree of kind of a concern certainly in Washington about President Putin’s own intentions in the region, which don’t, frankly, always align with what the United States would like to do and also kind of — and other Gulf allies that — like how to — in terms of building regional cooperation, address issues like Syria and others. And I imagine there are quite a number of differences between Doha and Damascus and Moscow on Syria and other issues that like — so it does not create an environment where —

HIS EXCELLENCY: As long as the conflicts in the region continue, everybody will have an interest in the regions and everybody will have his own interest and different interests. So that’s why we need to call for a genuine security dialogue between the front countries and the front forces in the region. Let us reach an understanding that keeping all the other interests aside and think of all the interests of the people. If we are just going to think about which countries are going to influence which country, we will never achieve any result.

DR. BOWEN: So I think we’ll open to questions. Yes.

Q: I’m Gardiner Harris from The New York Times. You seem to be having a moment in Washington, DC, right now with the Trump administration, particularly your meetings, two-by-two meetings this week, lots of positive statements from both Tillerson and Mattis. Why is that? Why have you been able to succeed over the last few months in this spat with your rivals at the GCC? And do you see the tide turning in Washington in your favor?

HIS EXCELLENCY: Thank you. First of all, our relation and our partnership with the United States has been always very strong and strategic partnership. And we see that we don’t consider what we have achieved now with the United States as something directed to our Gulf neighbors or to — it is a winning situation in the Gulf crisis or a losing situation for the other side in the Gulf crisis. We see that everybody is a loser from this crisis. We see that there is no winner. Our people in the Gulf, they lost a lot from this — from what we call a needless crisis.

What we have — we have built through the year a partnership based on trust, based on transparency. We have been a strong ally with the United States, and the US is recognizing this alliance and upgrading it to a higher level, which is the strategic level we have right now. And we are using this opportunity as a platform to consolidate all our efforts under one coordinated umbrella. We are trying to alleviate this — trying to intensify this cooperation.

Q: Good morning. Ali al-Ahmed, the director of the Gulf Institute. My question is about Oman. The fact that Oman and Kuwait, mostly Oman has been basically taken a neutral role in this conflict, and Oman is facing some issue with employment. Are you planning to invest in Omani — you have a lot of investment around the world. Is Oman one of your places where it’s a very nice investment area? So is that something that you’re thinking of in terms of helping Oman with its economic issues as well?

HIS EXCELLENCY: Oman — we have very strong relationship with Oman, and we have already well-established investments there. And this investment is continuing and growing. We have investments in real estates. We have investments in infrastructure. We have investments in manufacturing, and also now we have a joint investment with in the energy sector there. So our investment plan there is big. It’s not something small. It’s considered a big portion of our investment. And also our plan in the future is to expand.

Q: Thank you so much. Josh Rogin, Washington Post. Thank you for your time today. According to the readout of President Trump’s recent call with your emir, the White House said the president thanked the emir for action to counter terrorism and extremism in all forms, including being one of the few countries to move forward on a bilateral memorandum of understanding.

As you know, there has been some criticism from the US Congress in both parties actually about this memorandum of understanding. Congressmen allege that it’s not tough enough, and they also criticize the fact that it’s been held in secret. They question whether or not your country has actually taken steps to combat terrorist financing. Can you tell us some details about the steps that you’ve taken, and can you comment on whether or not you believe this memorandum of understanding should remain secret? Thank you.

HIS EXCELLENCY: The confidentiality of the memorandum, this is something related to the US government. And I don’t know what’s the nature of the relationship between the executive arm and the legislative arm, but from my meetings with some of the congressmen, I had to know that also they have seen the memorandum and there are — some of them, they report to them what is the progress on it.

For us, as I just mentioned to Andrew here that the memorandum is an ongoing process. And it’s something which is — came out as a result of the meeting between the US — the United States, and the GCC and not only Qatar is the country which is obliged to sign such an MOU, but all the other countries are obliged to do the same.

How tough or it’s easy or it’s enough or it’s not enough, all the US agencies, they are confirming and recognizing the efforts and the partnership that US has with Qatar in the counterterrorism and countering terrorism financing. We don’t want to be caught by the propaganda created from outside, from regional purposes. And they are trying to — just to fuel it here for their regional purpose, but it will affect their national interest of the United States.

We have seen that this propaganda war is fueled by countries which consider Qatar as their opponent and they are trying to use all the means here just to change this image of Qatar and create this kind of misperception. Our role is reaching out to the people, reaching out to the Congress and clarifying for them the situation. Qatar has been a cooperative and helpful ally for the United States for the last decades. It’s not something new. And the US government knows this and recognizes this.

Q: Thank you. Amir Tibon, Haaretz newspaper, Israel. There has been a recent wave of meetings, visits by Jewish-American leaders with the emir and other leaders of Qatar. And each and every one of them after those meetings said that they asked the leadership of Qatar to change the coverage of toward Israel and the Palestinian issue. Has Qatar given any assurances in those meetings that there will be change in al Jazeera’s coverage of this issue?

HIS EXCELLENCY: Well, regarding the visits from different parties from the US societies are coming to Qatar and visiting us, we don’t distinguish between religion background or ethnicity background. All of them, they are welcomed, and we are building a good relation with them.

Regarding Al Jazeera coverage, in Qatar constitution is very clear that the government should not interfere in the media. But Al Jazeera also should comply with international standards and with any code of conduct. And there are clear mechanisms, if there is anyone complaining about Al Jazeera coverage, that it’s been promoting hate speech or inciting, they can go and file these complaints in different bodies which are governing the media outlets, and he will get a just result out of it. In fact, we have — there are some complaints being filed against Al Jazeera aat Ofcom in the , and it’s proved that Al Jazeera, they followed the professional standard. We are not questioning the content of Al Jazeera. We question the professionalism of Al Jazeera through a clear mechanism.

Q: Thank you. Rahim Rashidi from Kurdistan TV. What do you think of Turkey’s oppression in Afrin, and what is your opinion about the Peshmerga role in the fight against ISIS and terrorism? Thank you.

HIS EXCELLENCY: Peshmerga played a vital role in the fight against ISIS and against terrorism there in Iraq. And we see that they have good soldiers who are fighting terrorism, and they are committed to the security of their country. But also we need to look at Turkey security also, national security issue, which is affected by some of the movement which is affecting directly the security of Turkey. And Qatar supporting any country which will take care of — to protect their own national security, what’s happening in Afrin is done by coordination with other forces there, with other allies. And they are trying to protect their borders. And I think this is the right of any country to protect its borders.

Q: Thank you. I’m Mike Holtza from Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies. It seems to me that the central point of your talk today was Qatar’s strong stance against terrorism. Can we take that to mean that you unequivocally oppose all non-state groups that espouse terrorism and actively carry out terrorism in pursuit of their goals, such as Hezbollah or other groups in your region?

HIS EXCELLENCY: We denounce any non-state actors who commit violence against the civilians. The terrorism act in itself is denounced and condemned by the state of Qatar, and this is a very clear policy for us. We don’t distinguish between those non- state actors, whether they are Sunni or Shi’a, Muslim or non-Muslim. For us, we judge the act. We judge the behavior. We don’t judge the background of the people.

Q: Thank you. I’m Phillip Cornell from the Atlantic Council. The blockade has obviously had an impact on the economy of Qatar. It’s come at a time also of slumping gas prices, and the result is three years of deficit. And, at the same time, I mean the Dolphin pipeline, for example, stays open, the economy is set to grow next year. My question is: How sustainable from an economic point of view is the current status of the blockade, or is it a ticking clock? And are there any specific measures of escalation or tightening of screws that you could see that might impact that clock in terms of the sustainability of the economy? Thanks.

HIS EXCELLENCY: Well, regarding the resilience of our economy, the country can survive forever with the current resources. We are blessed with natural resources, but also we are having a good management for those resources. And the blockade, when it has an impact on the economic situation, has the shock impact, which is the first few days or a few weeks from the measure they have taken.

But the problem doesn’t lie there. It lies where the other countries, the blockading states, try to and attempt to manipulate the market, to create fake news and fake stories about the economic situation, and trying to create this propaganda in order to distress the economy. And those factors are unacceptable by the international law and by for — and it’s undermining the world economic order.

But these things — these are the sort of things which can have — we are resisting all these moves, but it’s like a disturbing ongoing factor. We are seeking for that everybody just stays away on this own way until they reach a way forward for a solution. And we don’t see that there is any risk of aggression. The only thing we see, the only provocation is we see is the market manipulations.

Q: Thank you, Andrew. My name is Vajlak Fam with Al Jazeera television. And I say it proudly. Well, let me ask you this in English, and you’re free to answer whether it’s in Arabic or English. Why is it that Qatar has not until now officially announced who was behind the hacking of the Qatari news agency that caused this whole crisis?

HIS EXCELLENCY: Well, it’s a legal process. I’m not aware exactly where they have reached in the legal process, but until now we cannot disclose the information, which exactly was behind the hack. And I don’t want to — really to undermine this process because it — (inaudible).

DR. BOWEN: I think I’m going to take one final question, but then after that I would ask you all to remain seated so that the minister can go to his next appointment. Yes.

Q: Thank you. Omar Nadawi, Iraq analyst with Griffin Partners. My question is about Iraq. The fragmentation of Sunni political leadership in Iraq has been seen as an obstacle to stability — to political stability in the country. And as the country goes to elections in a few months, what initiatives, if any, does Qatar have to try and create a unified Sunni political leadership or vision for the future? Thank you.

HIS EXCELLENCY: Well, we always encourage the Iraqi people to build their political affiliation based on their national identity, not based on their sects or their ethnicity. Unfortunately, what we are seeing right now that there are Shi’a leaders, Sunni leaders, Kurds and Yazidis or — from different background and different sects.

We don’t like to interfere in having like one Sunni front. This is not Qatar policy. And we encourage everybody to come along based on a national agenda. We talk to Sunni leaders. We talk to Shi’a leaders. We talk to different politicians to have a united front among them with a common national interest that Iraq should remain together, that the integrity of Iraq shouldn’t be undermined. And to stay together for a better future. But just fueling and labeling this Sunni pact or Shi’a pact, I don’t think this will be fruitful for the Iraqi people themselves.

DR. BOWEN: Thank you very much, Minister.

HIS EXCELLENCY: Thank you.

DR. BOWEN: Hope to host you in the future in better times.

HIS EXCELLENCY: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. (Applause.)

(END)