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Qatar, Saudi Arabia Sign Border Agreement
Qatar and Saudi Arabia Wednesday signed a border delineation agreement in Qatari capital of Doha, ending a long-standing territorial dispute between the two countries.
Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal, who arrived in Doha Tuesday night for the event, and his Qatari counterpart Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabir Al-Thani signed the agreement, whose contents were not revealed.
At the signing ceremony, Sheikh Hamad said the border settlement will "deepen the relations between the two brothers" and end their border conflict forever.
Faisal said to reporters that the agreement marked the end of Saudi Arabia's border disputes with all of its neighbors, and hoped that cooperation between the two countries would be strengthened following the conclusion of the border issue.
In 1992, the dispute between the two oil-rich Gulf countries over a 60-kilometer-long sea and land border led to armed clashes, in which Qatar said three of its soldiers were killed.
Under the mediation of Egypt, the two countries agreed to set up a joint technical committee to delineate the border.
In 1999 Saudi Arabia and Qatar signed the border demarcation maps, and a French company was chosen to mark the border, which was completed last year thus paving the way for signing the agreement.
This was the second border settlement between member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) in a week.
Last Wednesday, the International Court of Justice in The Hague announced its ruling on the division of islands and a land strip between Bahrain and Qatar, ending a 60-year-old border dispute between the two emirates over the isles, which are believed to be rich in oil and gas resources.
GCC, a regional political, economic and military alliance established in 1981, groups Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.��
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