Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is reaching Qatar for a two-day official visit to enhance cooperation between the two allies.
According to Turkish media, Erdogan and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani will preside over the 7th Qatar-Turkey Supreme Strategic Committee meeting on Tuesday. A Turkish delegation of ministers and business leaders will meet Qatari counterparts as well.
Turkey’s ambassador to Qatar, Mustafa Goksu, said the summit would include the signing of agreements in a variety of fields including culture, trade, investment, relief, sports, development, health, and religious affairs.
The two countries have already signed tens of agreements since the first meeting of the Supreme Strategic Committee in 2015. Trade between Doha and Ankara is expected to increase this year over last, Goksu said.
Thousands of Turkish soldiers are based in Doha in Turkey’s only military base in the Gulf region. Several hundred Qatari troops and 36 fighter jets are expected to be deployed temporarily to Turkey, part of an effort to enhance the training of Doha’s air force, according to Al-Jazeera.com.
Turkey is facing depleted foreign currency reserves as a result of an economic crisis and rapid devaluation of the lira, and Qatar currently provides it with the equivalent of $15bn in currency swaps, the limit was raised from the equivalent of $5bn after talks between the two countries in May 2020.
The two countries became closer in 2017 after Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, and Egypt imposed a blockade on Qatar. Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Egypt accused Qatar of meddling in their affairs and backing groups associated with the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings in the region.
Diplomatic ties, as well as trade and travel, with Qatar were severed by the blockading countries, raising fears of disruptions to regular imports such as food items.
Within days, however, Qatar and Turkey agreed on new import deals that saw Qatar bringing in a range of essential Turkish goods by air. Soon after, an announcement was made that Turkey would deploy several hundred additional troops to its military base in Qatar.
The blockade was lifted in January of this year and Sheikh Tamim attended a Gulf Cooperation Council summit in Saudi Arabia subsequently.
