Caracas – Information Office – 19 June

HE Qatar's Ambassador to the Republic of Venezuela Batal Mojab Al Dosari has stressed that Qatar does not intervene in the affairs of the Gulf states which imposed a siege on the country two weeks ago. He stressed that Qatar does not accept any dictates regarding its foreign policy.

  In an interview with the Venezuelan daily Universal, HE Ambassador Al Dosari said that the list issued by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain on individuals and entities that claimed to be terrorist was misleading, not credible or independent. The United Nations confirmed that it was the only body authorized to issue such lists. The names on the list do not exist in Doha and do not live, visit or go through it at all, HE the Ambassador added.

On Qatar's position on severing diplomatic relations and imposing an air, land and sea blockade against it, he said that Qatar was surprised by the decision because there had been no previous criticism, adding that despite the malicious media campaign against Qatar which adopted the misinformation, Qatar is always ready to discuss differences and reach a peaceful solution .

He described the siege imposed on Qatar as an aggression against the GCC's basic regulations. The closure of the airfields is a denial of international aviation conventions, pointing out that the imposing the blockade is subject only to the UN Security Council's policy and standards.

HE Ambassador Al Dosari asserted that dialogue is the solution to the Gulf crisis, stressing that the State of Qatar is ready to discuss any requests on condition that be clear with reference to the decisions that concern the Qatari internal affairs are the sovereignty of Qatar and no one to intervene in it.

On Qatar's counterterrorism efforts, HE Ambassador Al Dossari said that the State of Qatar has its own deterrent laws at the local level and its plans to combat terrorism as well as its proactive preventive plans to reduce and combat terrorism. The State is exerting great efforts to deal with any measures that may cause terrorism, and thus working to eradicate it from its roots.

He added that the State of Qatar focuses on several issues first of which is to pursue effective diplomacy through trying and working to resolve the existing conflicts among countries by bringing nations and peoples together and working towards rapprochement among civilizations and nations with different beliefs based on tolerance and mutual cooperation. The State of Qatar pays attention to tackling the problem of unemployment and poverty, which some countries complain of as a source of terrorism and violence leading to terrorism, he added.

He pointed out, that the State of Qatar focuses on 16 countries in the Middle East and provided them with up to 400,000 job opportunities. Qatar also plans to increase these opportunities by 2021 and it is making great efforts by working with other countries. Qatar also provides educational programs in some 42 countries for students who were excluded from school, where their educational programs target about 5 million children, and there are plans to reach 7 million children in the coming years, HE Ambassador Al Dosari noted.

He stressed that the State of Qatar does not support the Muslim Brotherhood or Hamas, but treated them as governments. The State of Qatar supports the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip, supports the Palestinian national unity government, and affirms that Hamas is a resistance movement and that Qatar deals with it like any other Palestinian faction.

"It seems that terrorism in their concept is to fight Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which has been besieged for years and suffers from economic crises and closed crossings by the Egyptian regime," he said.

On relations with Iran, HE Ambassador Al Dossari said, "Iran is a neighboring country and we are economically linked to a joint gas field, but our fate is with the Gulf countries