France attempts to perform mediator role Gulf states & Qatar

French President Emanuel Macron is scheduled to meet with Emirates’ Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Zayed on Wednesday to discuss the recent developments on regional and international level. The two officials are scheduled also to discuss the decision taken by a number of Arab countries to boycott the Qatari government against the backdrop of its support for terrorism and interference in the internal affairs of the neighboring states.

While diplomatic efforts to contain the Qatari crisis with Gulf countries and Egypt continued on Wednesday, Paris announced that French President Emmanuel Macron would meet separately in Paris this month with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani and Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan in an attempt to mediate in the ongoing crisis.

Meanwhile, the US State Department said it was optimistic about resolving the crisis, asserting that progress was made in this regard. “I would characterize the mood and approach as hopeful, which believes that the worst is behind us,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters on Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu held talks in both Qatar and Kuwait as part of his country’s attempts to mediate in the crisis. Meanwhile, Standard & Poor’s said it worked on lowering the long-term rating on Qatar National Bank (QNB) to ‘A’ from ‘A+’ and put all its ratings on QNB, The Commercial Bank, Doha Bank and Qatar Islamic Bank on CreditWatch negative.

The agency said that currently, it sees numerous uncertainties regarding Qatar’s response to the group of government’s measures, the extent of these measures, and how long they will stay in place. It said the four banks it rated in Qatar, collectively accounted for around 85% of the banking system’s assets at year-end 2016. S&P added that the geographic breakdown of liabilities shows that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) represented around 8% (QAR75 billion or $20.6 billion) of the total.

“While we understand that this figure includes funds from countries (Kuwait and Oman) that haven’t placed Qatar under sanctions, we take the view that these funds may theoretically also be withdrawn because of the recent events,” S&P wrote in its report on “How Recent Developments In Qatar Affect The Banking System.”

In the same context, A senior United Arab Emirates official said on Monday Qatar’s powerful Arab neighbors could continue to isolate it “for years” if it did not change course in its policy of supporting extremists and jihadist groups.

Speaking to a small group of reporters in Paris, Anwar Gargash, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, said a list of grievances Arab nations had with Qatar would be completed in the next few days,and that Doha needed to move beyond its state of “denial.”

“The Kuwaiti mediation will be very useful and there will be demands coming. Qatar will realize that this is a new state of affairs and isolation can last years,” Gargash said. “If they want to be isolated because of their perverted view of what their political role is then let them be isolated.”

Qatar denies fomenting instability in the Middle East and funding terrorism. Gargash also urged Turkey, which has been supportive of Qatar, to remain balanced in the crisis and understand that it was in its interest to support Arab efforts.