U.A.E. Restores Qatar Postal Service After Years-Long Freeze
U.A.E. Restores Qatar Postal Service After Years-Long Suspension
(Bloomberg) -- The United Arab Emirates has restored mail services to Qatar, frozen for more than two years amid a diplomatic rift, after a regional meeting attended by both Gulf states and the United Nations’ postal agency.
It wasn’t immediately clear whether the move indicated a broader mending of ties between the countries mired in a diplomatic dispute that has hurt trade and split the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council at a time of heightened tension with Iran.
The UN’s Universal Postal Union said it hosted a meeting last month in Bern, Switzerland, that brought together officials from the U.A.E, Qatar and other Arab nations involved in the diplomatic impasse. The talks sought to encourage the countries to send post to one another and improve services.
“The discussions were very positive,” UPU spokesman David Dadge said. “Hopefully this is a sign of better arrangements in the future.”
Emirates Post and Qatar Post didn’t immediately respond to emailed requests for comment.
Emirates Post suspended services in June 2017 after the U.A.E. along with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic, trade and travel ties with Qatar, accusing it of funding Islamist groups and supporting Iran, charges the government in Doha denies.
Saudi Arabia hosted Qatar’s foreign minister late last year, but such initiatives since appear to have lost momentum.
When asked at an Emirates Post outlet in the U.A.E. about sending a package to Qatar on Monday, staff said the service had been available since the previous day.
A Feb. 6 internal circular from Emirates Post seen by Bloomberg ordered the restoring of the route from the U.A.E. from Feb. 9, citing “work necessity” and “demand on services.” The mail will be routed through Oman via Oman Post, it said. There are no direct flights between the U.A.E. and Qatar.
(A previous version of this story corrected the timing and details of the regional meeting after UN clarification)
To contact the reporters on this story: Zainab Fattah in Dubai at zfattah@bloomberg.net;Sylvia Westall in Dubai at swestall@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Riad Hamade at rhamade@bloomberg.net, Michael Gunn, Paul Abelsky
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