Qatar's Foreign Minister HE Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said on Wednesday that his current visit to Washington is a follow-up to the efforts exerted by Kuwait in partnership with the United States to reach a diplomatic solution to the Gulf crisis.

In a special interview with Al Jazeera TV, (Liqa Al Youm) prorgramme, HE Sheikh Mohamed said that "this visit is also aimed at informing politicians, senators and MPs in the United States about the negative impacts of this crisis on the region." He praised "the great efforts made by US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during his recent visit to the Gulf countries, which came out with proposals we are going to respond to."
The foreign minister said that "the US position demanded, since the outbreak of the crisis, the rapid lifting of the unjust siege against Qatar, but the contradictory statements of the siege countries prevented this to happen."
He said: "Accusing Qatar of financing terrorism is a pretext on which the siege countries relied to justify their escalatory actions against Doha in a flagrant violation of international conventions and laws, noting that "Qatar has clearly stated that it is open to dialogue with these countries provided that respect for national sovereignty and the commitment of all the states concerned to any future agreement."
The minister stressed that "the State of Qatar will not negotiate on its national sovereignty and is ready to talk about the claims of the siege countries of the threat of Qatar to their national security, provided that these allegations are substantiated."
With regard to the response of the siege countries with the statements made by the US Secretary of State, the foreign minister said that "Qatar is not concerned with how these countries deal with Tillerson's statements, but we felt a negative approach in dealing with mediation to resolve the crisis through statements and leaks that reflect their tendency to undermine the efforts to resolve the crisis."
He pointed out that "the State of Qatar is concerned with ending the measures taken against it in violation of international laws, but is not concerned with the precautionary measures taken by the siege countries to maintain their security as this is an internal matter of these countries.
The minister said: "Lifting the siege is the first step through which the siege countries prove their good intention to resolve the crisis through mediation, which is the responsibility of all to respect their efforts."

On what is being published in some US media accusing Qatar of financing terrorism, HE the Minister said that "confronting the veiled campaigns against Qatar is to be faced by the clarification of the facts and explaining our point of view on regional issues, particularly the fight against terrorism, describing the "US institutions involved in demonizing and linking Qatar to terrorism were marginal and used by the siege countries to serve narrow agenda."
HE the Minister stressed that "Qatar spares no effort to refute the false allegations and will not miss any opportunity to explain its just cause based on facts and irrefutable evidence," rejecting "accusation by the Saudi Foreign Minister of Qatar's granting a passport to Abdul Aziz Muqrin to carry out attacks against the Kingdom."
HE the Minister explained that "Al-Muqrin, who was accused of carrying out terrorist operations, is a Saudi citizen and never entered Qatar,".In this regard, HE the Minister referred to the "intensive security cooperation between the State of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, citing the official correspondence between the two countries, which saved the Kingdom from several attacks.
HE the Minister said this cooperation was valid until the day of siege and this problem had not been raised before.
On the UAE's accusation that Qatar was behind the killing of Emirati soldiers in Yemen, HE the Minister expressed his regret over the statements made by Saudi and UAE officials who denied Qatar's contribution to the Arab coalition forces by accusing Qatar of killing soldiers who were martyred in Yemen, "noting that" the UAE side contradicted more than once in dealing with the incident of the death of soldiers in Yemen, where their statements changed from accusing one the soldiers to accuse Qatar of leaking coordinates to the Houthis and say that Qatar colluded with Al Qaeda a matter which reflected their quest for gossip among the Gulf brothers HE Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani asserted that the "Qatari-US relations have not been affected by the defamation of the siege countries and the accusations against Qatar as the US institutions are aware of the Qatari efforts in the fight against terrorism, which were hampered by the measures taken by the siege countries."
HE the Minister said that "the aggression of some Gulf countries on the State of Qatar, which is a committed Member State and keen to promote the Gulf Cooperation Council to a union, makes it necessary for developing charters and pledges to ensure avoiding recurrence of such violations of the GCC system, which is mandated to protect the rights of each member state.
HE the Minister noted that "the membership of Qatar in the GCC does not conflict with its relationship with all countries, including strategic relations with Turkey or with Russia,"
adding that "the implementation of the directives of HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al -Thani, in his recent speech to work for the development and renaissance that we aspire to, we must establish strong relations with any country capable of contributing to the realisation of this renaissance."
HE the Minister said that "the Qatari-Russian relations are witnessing great progress as they were reinforced by contacts between the HH the Emir and the Russian President, who expressed his interest in the quick solution of the current crisis".HE the Minister noted that "Qatar considers the US State Department, assigned by US President Donald Trump with the Gulf crisis file, is the only channel coordinated by Doha to end this crisis.
HE the minister denied that "Qatar is using its financial reserves to finance terrorism, as rumored by some UAE officials who overlook the local renaissance in Qatar and the massive expansion of Qatari investments in the world, wondering about the UAE financial reserves which are used to undermine regional security and interference in the policies of other countries."
HE the Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said that "the internal situation of the United States will not have any impact on the obligations of the US foreign policy towards Doha, which links with Washington with a strong relationship through institutions immune to the volatility of US domestic policy."

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