Speaking at a joint press conference here with Belgium's Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, Sheikh Mohamed said the Gulf crisis is fabricated and that it broke out on the basis of a cyber attack targeting Qatar followed by a siege of the Qatari people which is now in its third month.
Sheikh Mohamed said the despair of the siege countries has reached such a point that they are buying TV spots for ads in various television stations to market their ideas against Qatar.
The foreign minister noted his Belgian counterpart is well aware that Qatar is participating in the global efforts to combat terrorism and is working with its partners at the international level to confront terrorism and financing of terrorist activities.
"We have talked about terrorism in its true sense, in accordance with the international definition, not on the basis of its definition by the siege countries," Sheikh Mohamed said.
The foreign minister described the meeting with his Belgian counterpart as fruitful and discussed the relations between the two countries, in addition to various agreements that will be signed during the visit of His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani Belgium.
"We appreciate the role of Belgium in the various humanitarian issues in the region, especially in Syria," the foreign minister said, stressing that Qatar strongly advocates the accountability of war criminals.
He said: "We express our desire and will do everything to strengthen this co-operation in the future."
"We have had the opportunity to discuss various developments of common concern in Libya and Iraq, as well as the issue of combating terrorism and the financing of Islamic centres in Europe," the minister said, adding that "Qatar encourages any new idea or mechanism that emphasises the principle of transparency in terms of funding and exchange of information against terrorism ."
The Belgian minister said that he discussed with Sheikh Mohamed bilateral relations as well as the situation in the region.
"There are ongoing discussions between the two governments on a number of agreements and we are very open to completing them. This will be possible during the visit of His Highness the Emir of the State of Qatar to Belgium before the end of the year, and we are honoured to welcome His Highness in Belgium," he added.
"We also work together in the fight against terrorism and in different parts of the world, such as Syria and Iraq, and based on the various talks with the Gulf countries, we need to do more to stop the funding of terrorist activities," he said, adding that "Belgium and the rest of Europe include an important Muslim community that needs assistance to secure education and building of mosques, so there has been extensive discussion between the two countries in this area, and we will continue to discuss with Qatar how to organise ways to finance Islamic centres and institutions."
He said: " I have met with the foreign minister of Saudi Arabia a few weeks ago, and we in Belgium and Europe are ready to contribute to the dialogue with the parties in the region." "This task lies with the Gulf parties, but we are ready to help if our intervention is needed,", the Belgian foreign minister added.
Earlier, Sheikh Mohamed met with European Parliament members in Brussels.
The foreign minister briefed the European Parliament members about the illegal measures taken against Qatar by the siege countries, which have led to severe legal and human rights violations, in addition to the promotion of hate speech by banning any act of sympathy with Qatar, attacking the country in the media, and accusing it of financing terrorism.
The foreign minister also met with Secretary-General for Foreign Affairs of the European Union Helga Schmid.
Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani meets Belgium’s Deputy Prime Minister Didier Reynders.
Qatar's Foreign Minister HE Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani on Friday said that "the recent developments related to the Gulf crisis were not needed, especially in this period of time of multiple conflicts."
