The speaker of Qatar’s Shura Council, Ahmed Bin Abdullah Al-Mahmoud, yesterday arrived in Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah for the first time since the start of the Gulf crisis in 2017.

According to the official Qatar News Agency (QNA), Al-Mahmoud is in the kingdom to attend the 12th regular meeting of the heads of the legislative council of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries held in Jeddah.

Al-Mahmoud, along with his delegation of Qatari state officials, was received at Jeddah International Airport by the Secretary-General of the Saudi Shura Council, Mohammed Al-Mutairi, and his Kuwaiti and Omani counterparts, Allam Al-Kandari and Ali Al-Mahrouqi.

The meeting was said to have discussed a number of issues “issues pertaining to consolidate the GCC parliamentary march.”

On 5 June 2017, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and Egypt severed diplomatic ties with Qatar and imposed a land and air boycott on Qatar accusing it of sponsoring terrorism.