Qatar lodged a formal complaint with the World Trade Organization against the “illegal siege” imposed by four Arab neighbors that have accused the Persian Gulf state of sponsoring terrorism.
The complaint, lodged with the WTO’s dispute-settlement body, described the embargo as “unprecedented”, accusing Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Bahrain of “violating the WTO’s core laws and conventions on trade of goods and services, and trade-related aspects of intellectual property,” the Ministry of Economy and Commerce said in a statement on late Monday, Financial Times reported.
On June 5, the quartet of Arab allies cut off air, sea and land links to their gas-rich neighbor, closing off airspace to Qatar-bound flights, refusing to handle goods bound for the gas-rich state and cutting diplomatic ties.
New flight routes
Qatar Airways is expected to have access to three contingency routes over international waters in early August, after delegates at a UN-led meeting on Monday discussed air corridors for Doha, Al Jazeera reported.
The closed-door meeting with the UN aviation agency’s governing council in Montreal discussed contingency routes that had been planned as part of a preliminary agreement reached earlier this month, but not yet opened to Qatar-registered planes.
Qatar had asked the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) to intervene after its national carrier was denied access to the airspace of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates as part of economic sanctions.
According to Financial Times, while Qatar has shifted supply chains, bringing in food from Turkey and Iran and using Omani ports, its imports nonetheless slumped 40 percent in June as the embargo hit home.
“The arbitrary measures taken by the siege countries are a clear violation of the provisions and conventions of international trade law,” said Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassem bin Mohammed Al Thani, the Minister of Economy and Commerce. “Furthermore, the illegal siege is unprecedented in the framework of economic blocs.”
The crisis, the worst for years in the six member Persian Gulf Cooperation Council, is pitting close US allies against one another and has caused business uncertainty for Qatar, the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, which is scheduled to host the Fifa World Cup in 2022.
Qatar has requested formal consultations with the four countries, “detailing all of the violations committed by them against … Qatar, in contravention of the various conventions overseen by the WTO”.
The minister called on the quartet “to sit at the dialogue table and start holding such consultations”.
The four Arab allies said on Sunday they were open to dialogue with Qatar as long as it made a commitment to cease terrorist financing and interference in other nations’ affairs and responded to their list of 13 demands.
These demands include the closure of the Qatar-funded Al Jazeera news network, the departure of Turkish troops from Qatar, and the payment of reparations.
Qatar, which denies backing extremists, says it is open to discussions about regional security but will not countenance demands that impinge on its sovereignty.
Sheikh Ahmed said approaching the WTO to inform “the siege countries” of their violations was testament to Qatar’s “transparency”.
In the statement, the ministry said the closure of Qatar’s land border with Saudi Arabia and the denial of access to their sea and airspace “violated the rights not only of … Qatar, but also of its trading partners.”