The meeting comes as both countries continue to develop their ties after they reconciled following the 2017 regional rift.
Qatar and Bahrain discussed the development of bilateral cooperation in the fields of climate and environment on Saturday, Manama’s news agency reported.
The discussions took place in a meeting in Athens between Qatar’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Abdullah Al Subaie, and Bahrain’s Special Envoy for Climate Affairs, Mohammed bin Daina.
The meeting took place on the sidelines of the ninth United Nations’ ‘Our Ocean’ Conference.
During the meeting, the Bahraini official highlighted Doha and Manama’s ties while stressing the need for joint action to achieve climate security.
“He stressed the importance of enhancing bilateral, as well as regional and international cooperation in the environmental and climate fields to achieve sustainable development goals and climate security,” the Bahraini news agency reported.
The meeting comes as both countries continue to develop their ties after they reconciled following the 2017 regional rift.
At the time of the diplomatic crisis, Bahrain joined Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Egypt in severing ties with Qatar.
The quartet had imposed an air, land and sea blockade on Qatar, accusing it of supporting “terrorism” – allegations which Doha had vehemently rejected.
While the crisis effectively came to an end in 2021 with the signing of the Al-Ula Declaration in Saudi Arabia, ties between Qatar and Bahrain took time to thaw.
In January last year, Qatar’s Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman Al Khalifa discussed “outstanding issues” between both countries in the first high-level phone call since 2017.
In April 2023, the two nations’ diplomats met in Riyadh where they officially re-established diplomatic ties for the first time since the region’s worst diplomatic rift.
Direct flights between Qatar and Bahrain resumed on May 25, 2023, though the two countries have yet to reopen their embassies in Doha and Manama.
In February, The Qatari-Bahraini Follow-up Committee agreed to restructure the board of directors of the two countries’ shared bridge and “to take the necessary steps” to implement the project.
The project, known as the “Friendship Bridge,” was first announced in 2008 to improve trade and travel among the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The $3 billion project would connect Bahrain to Qatar’s northwestern coast, reducing travel from five hours to 30 minutes.
The causeway project came back to life last November during a meeting in Manama between Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Bahrain’s Crown Prince.
