Egypt's Sisi to make first post-rift visit to Qatar

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is to visit Qatar on Tuesday for the first time since a four-year rift between Cairo and Doha, the royal palace announced.

The Qatari palace said on Twitter that Sisi would meet with the energy-rich Gulf state's emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, on a visit which the official news agency QNA described as marking "a new era in relations" between the two Arab countries.

The emir visited Cairo in June, when Qatari investments in cash-strapped Egypt were on the agenda, as well as cooperation in the energy and agriculture sectors.

In late March, Cairo said Qatar planned to invest five billion dollars in Egypt, while hydrocarbon giant QatarEnergy announced an agreement with US major ExxonMobil to acquire a 40-percent stake in a gas exploration block off Egypt in the Mediterranean.

Cairo had joined Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies, the UAE and Bahrain, in cutting ties with Doha in June 2017 over its support for the Muslim Brotherhood and alleged soft line on Iran.

Their blockade of Qatar was lifted in January 2021.