The appointment of the new Egyptian ambassadors comes only a few days after Qatar received a new Saudi envoy.

Egypt’s president has appointed a new ambassador to Doha after a three-year dispute that saw the severance of ties between the two states.

Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi appointed Amr El-Sherbiny as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the State of Qatar on Wednesday, the first such move since a major diplomatic crisis that lasted nearly four years.

The decision follows Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry’s visit to Doha, during which he delivered a letter from Sisi to the Amir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, which included an official invitation to visit Cairo.

The appointment of the new Egyptian ambassador comes only a few days after Qatar received a new Saudi ambassador to the Gulf country. Prince Mansour bin Khalid bin Farhan Al Saud is set to serve as the first Saudi ambassador to Qatar since 2017.

Who is Amr El-Sherbiny?

Prior to his appointment as the Egyptian ambassador to Qatar, El-Sherbiny served as the Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister for the United Nations Affairs at Ministry of Foreign Affairs Egypt.

El-Sherbiny was also the Deputy Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Migration, Refugees & Combatting Human Trafficking, a term which ended in 2020.

He also served as the Deputy Chief of Mission to the Embassy of Egypt in Brussels until 2019, and was the director of United Nations Devision at the Egyptian foreign ministry.

Warming relations

Cairo withdrew its ambassador from Doha on June 5, 2017, immediately after the Gulf crisis saw the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic ties with Qatar and impose an illegal air, land and sea blockade.

Since the announcement of the Gulf reconciliation last January, Egypt and Qatar have continued to move towards strengthening relations that have strained during the past years.

Ties have appeared to develop over the past month, especially since the two countries joined forces to push for a ceasefire in Gaza that brought to an end a deadly Israeli offensive in Gaza.

Read also: Who is Saudi Arabia’s new ambassador to Qatar?

A May visit by Qatar’s foreign minister to Cairo also resulted in a mutual agreement to develop relations between the two states while further cooperating in order to resolve regional challenges.

Sheikh Tamim also took the initiative to invite Egypt’s Sisi to visit Qatar, which would be his first visit since 2017.

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