Al Shindagah

8 | Al Shindagah | Issue 137 POLITICS halaf Ahmad Al Habtoor invited a panel of experts to join him in the fourth Open Talk session. The debate kicked off with the escalating political situation over Qatar following a move by the United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt to cut ties with the gulf nation in June over allegation that Doha sponsors terrorism. Khalaf Al Habtoor said, “We cannot compromise with terrorism. It is a plague, we will not allow anyone to support terrorism even if it is our closest kin… If you are supporting terrorism or threatening our stability in the UAE or any Gulf country you should be punished. You are either our friend or our foe. We have to be very clear that we are against any terrorism, and anyone that is funding terrorism.” The panel of experts included Dr Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, Professor of Political Science; Dr Abdullah Al Mutawa, Director of Al Arabiya News - Dubai; Ahmad Al Jarallah, a Kuwaiti journalist and Editor- in-chief of the Arab Times and Al-Seyassah newspapers; Dr Fahd Al Shelaimi, Chairman of the Gulf Forum for Peace and Security; Faisal Jalal Abbas, Editor-in-chief of Arab News newspaper; and Khaled Abou Bakr, an Egyptian lawyer. The session was moderated by Yusef Al Muammari from Abu Dhabi’s Al Dafra TV and Noura Badawi, Chief Communications Officer, Al Habtoor Group. Dr Abdulkhaleq Abdullah said that Qatar is a country that is going against its own interests. “It is adopting provocative policies through Al Jazeera and other media platforms. They are spreading incitement against Egypt and other countries.” Al Habtoor reinforced his confidence in the UAE economy Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor hosted his fourth session of Open Talk on August 9 where many of his social media followers got the opportunity to hear from the Al Habtoor Group Chairman in an open forum at the Al Habtoor Group head office. The diplomatic impasse over Qatar dominated the session as Joanna Andrews reports. OPEN TALK 4 K