The US and Qatar have signed a deal to combat terror financing as the oil-rich Gulf nation faces sanctions from its neighbouring countries for allegedly supporting extremism.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson travelled to the West Asia to try to resolve the stand-off between Qatar and other Persian Gulf nations, which have accused their oil-rich neighbour of supporting terrorism.
“We worked out an arrangement with the Qataris separate from the Qatar feud. And this is something we’re pretty proud of. That is the Qataris and the United States have signed a memo of understanding between the United States and Qatar on counter terrorism financing,” State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert told reporters at a daily news conference.
This she hoped would pave the way for Qatar to go back into the good stead of the other four countries — Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates — that cut off relations with them on the issue of terror financing.
“We know that all of those countries, as we talked about in Riyadh, share the concern about ISIS, the global terror network, and they recognise that we are all stronger when we are working together and coordinating in the fight against ISIS.
“So we believe that this memo of agreement between the United States and Qatar is a good first start to get that underway,” Nauert said.