Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani speaks during a joint press conference along with his French counterpart in Doha, March 28, 2022.
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Qatari Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani appeared on Tuesday to correct a controversial statement by his fellow minister he revamped the weekend about Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Saad Sherida al-Kaabi, Qatari’s energy minister and head of the state-owned gas company, said he was confident that Russian gas would eventually flow back to Europe because the continent would “forgive and forget” Moscow about its invasion of Ukraine.
“We’re all blessed to give you the option to forget and forgive. And I believe things will recover over time… they’re learning from the situation and probably have loads more variety [of energy intake]al-Kaabi said Saturday at an energy forum in Abu Dhabi.
The comment sparked anger and got here as a Russian missile attack killed at the very least 40 civilians in a Dnieper residential area in Ukraine.
Asked by CNBC’s Hadley Gamble whether al-Kaabi’s comment is the official Qatari position, Al Thani said:
“Well, in truth it’s not. Initially, politically speaking, after we talk in regards to the situation and the war, Qatar has a really clear political stance on the matter: we do not accept the invasion of one other country. we accept the threat or use of force, we do not accept harming civilians. We demonstrated this in our votes on the UN.”
He added: “Our message to the Russians, to the Ukrainians has all the time been … these sorts of differences and misunderstandings should not be resolved on the battlefield, they ought to be resolved through dialogue.”
Rescuers search for people trapped under the rubble of a skyscraper that was hit by a missile on January 14, 2023, in Dnieper, Ukraine.
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Europe has long been Russia’s largest customer for most energy resources, especially natural gas supplies. EU countries have dramatically reduced imports of Russian energy supplies, imposing sanctions in response to Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Cuts in imports have increased energy costs for Europe, forcing oil and gas leaders and CEOs to look for recent energy sources and alternative supplies.
Al Thani maintained that Europe decides its energy future.
“It’s actually a European decision,” he said. “Ultimately, from our perspective and our policy, because the state of Qatar, we never politicize energy. We see that food, medicine, energy are things that must be protected because they’re for the people, they’re not for the federal government or for political reasons.”
He added that Europe’s woes were not solely the results of the war, but said the conflict had accelerated the continent’s energy challenges.
“It has been a really very long time, the policy… wasn’t realistic,” said the minister, pointing to an overzealous energy transition that disregarded the importance of fossil fuels while relying an excessive amount of on renewables.
Qatar has grow to be a crucial alternative source of natural gas for Europe. In late November, QatarEnergy i ConocoPhillips signed agreements to export 2 million tons of liquefied natural gas per yr to Germany for at the very least 15 years, starting in 2026.
Qatar maintains good relations with Russia. His $300 billion sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, owns about 19% of Russian oil giant Rosneft and plans to proceed investing within the country.