31 January 2022
Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani is set to visit the White House this week for his first in-person meeting with US President Joe Biden, as analysts say the Gulf country again finds itself uniquely situated to play a critical role in United States foreign policy.
Topping the agenda on Monday’s meeting, according to the White House, will be efforts to ensure “the stability of global energy supplies”, a not-so-veiled reference to fever-pitched tensions with Russia over Ukraine that could see Europe seek new avenues for its hefty natural gas needs.
Qatar, a country of 2.8 million, is the world’s second-largest exporter of liquified natural gas (LNG) – just slightly behind the US – and has an outsized influence on the market.
The meeting also comes as the US is searching for a way forward with the Taliban government in Afghanistan, where Doha has served as Washington’s diplomatic representative since November – and as US and Iranian officials say multilateral negotiations to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal may be reaching an end game.
Source AlJazeera
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