Foreign Minister Hails Qatari-Tunisian Relations

Foreign Minister Hails Qatari-Tunisian Relations

Tunis /Information Office/ 04 June 2015/ Tunisian President, Beji Caid Essebsi, met here Thursday with Qatar's Foreign Minister, HE Dr. Khalid bin Mohammed Al Attiyah, who is currently visiting Tunisia. During the meeting, Dr. Al Attiyah conveyed greetings of HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani to the Tunisian President and his wishes of further progress and prosperity to the Tunisian people. For his part, the Tunisian President entrusted HE Al Attiyah with his greetings to HH the Emir, wishing him the best of health and happiness and further progress, development and prosperity to the State of Qatar. Talks during the meeting dealt with bilateral relations between the two countries and means of enhancing them in addition to a number of issues of mutual concern. Tunis /Information Office/ 04 June 2015/ HE the Foreign Minister Dr. Khaled bin Mohammed Al-Attiyah, has described relations between the State of Qatar and the Republic of Tunisia, as distinctive, noting that ties between the two brotherly countries were reflected in cooperation with ''our brothers in Tunisia in all fields, whether economic, cultural or political." Addressing a joint press conference with his Tunisian counterpart Taieb Baccouche , HE the Foreign Minister said that he had the opportunity to exchange ideas with the Tunisian Foreign Minister in many bilateral matters and their detail in all areas, as well as matters relating to the situation in the Middle East, whether in Iraq, Yemen, Syria or Libya. HE Al-Attiyah explained that prospects of cooperation with Tunisia are continuing, pointing out that the State of Qatar has a long-standing and growing relations with Tunisia. ''The State of Qatar is closely considering the legislative evolution that is taking place in Tunisia and attempts to pass more flexible legislations to attract investments,'' he said. HE the Foreign Minister said that this year is the second after the establishment of the Qatari-Tunisian Friendship Fund. Today we have 1,000 foundations, 5,000 direct works and 14,000 indirect works, noting that the project has completed only 30% of its objectives while the hoped-for number is 50 thousand jobs. He said the Fund in Tunisia has a Committee of Wise Men from all Spectra and depends on efficiency, ideas, innovation and transforming such ideas into a reality without regard to political orientations. HE the Foreign Minister confirmed Qatar's confidence regarding the 2022 World Cup file, saying this file was the best among all files that competed, and we are confident that we have entered the competition in accordance with the conditions and this Arab file won. But unfortunately some parties can't see a Muslim Arab State succeed in attracting such championships. This tournament will be for the first time in the history of football in an Arab state and to be for all the Arabs. ON the investigations underway about FIFA corruption, the Foreign Minister said: we do not have sensitivity or concerns. Such concerns should have been felt during the US investigator's interrogations. Though he is American and the United States was one of the competitors of Qatar in the hosting of the 2022 Mondale and the success of the Qatari file, we cooperated with him and the result of investigations came that there was no suspicion. Regarding evidence and parties to campaign of criticism on the 2022 file, whether institutions or states, HE the Foreign Minister said: we in Qatar reserve the right not to publish activities of parties that have interests, whether political or economic, related to racism, which I previously referred to. HE the Foreign Minister stressed that the Qatar State aspire for increasing the trade volume between the two countries, adding that work is under way with the Tunisian government to boost such exchanges and raise the level of investment in Tunisia. He stressed the need to support the Tunisian model, which requires the pooling of all efforts to support its success both in economic, investment and even development aspects. On security cooperation between the State of Qatar and Tunisia Dr. Al-Attiyah said cooperation is existing between the Interior and defence ministries in both countries. He said that Qatar position's is clear regarding the situation in Libya, stressing that the political solution is the only solution to the crisis in Libya. He underlined that the State of Qatar supports the Libyan dialogue, and that it provided all its means to the success of this dialogue. Qatar supports the UN Envoy and works with all parties to reach this result, Dr. Al-Attiyah said. Foreign Minister: ''There is No Way Qatar Would be Striped of the Right to Host World Cup'' On the situation in Iraq, HE the Foreign Minister Dr Khalid bin Mohamed Al Attiyah said, "Coalition air strikes in Iraq were hopeless without a real push for national reconciliation and that the door should be left open to those who leave Al-Qaeda's Syrian wing. "The international community has not done enough to press the parties in Iraq to begin national reconciliation. A big group of people in Iraq are being marginalized, if we don't do something to include them in the political process, then we are forcing them to join the other side," he said. "We see no hope in continuing an air campaign without simultaneously having a national dialogue on the ground," he said, and added, Iraq's Prime Minister Dr Haider Al Abadi needed help from all those who had influence in Iraq. Regarding Syria, HE the Minister said, there was "no will" from the international community to resolve the issue which had left the Syrian people with just a choice of the "tyranny of the regime or the brutality of the terrorist groups". "Today there are 300,000 people killed in Syria, do we forget all this and say that the Assad regime is the one going to fight terrorists?" "Qatar does not deal with Islamic State (ISIS) or Jubhat al-Nusra, but you always have to keep the door open for the Syrians who are with Jubhat al Nusra if they decide to depart from Qaeda and go back to their own people as Syrians," he said. One group of factions, the "Army of Fatah" alliance, has made gains in recent weeks against the Syrian military. "It is a group of so many groups whose tactics have joined them together. They are not terrorist groups. The element (the core) of Jaysh al-Fatah are not terrorists and we don't consider them extremists." He said Qatar, like its coalition allies, had helped groups in Syria, but that had not been enough.