Egypt welcomes Saudi call for Arab solidarity

Cairo: Egypt has welcomed Saudi king Abdullah bin Abdulaiz Al Saud's call for solidarity among the Arab states in order to tackle the challenges affecting the region.

"Egypt does not hesitate to support its fellow Arab states and it confirms its full response to this honest invitation that represents a big step towards Arab solidarity," a presidential statement said, according to a Xinhua report Wednesday.

The Gulf Cooperation Council states led by Saudi Arabia have recently reached a supplementary agreement in Riyadh to set forth a comprehensive framework for Arab solidarity, and to overcome inter-Arab disagreements, particularly with Qatar.

Although the statement did not mention oil-rich Qatar, Egypt seems to be in favour of fixing ties with Doha that have been deteriorating since the overthrow of Egypt's former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi by the military in July, 2013.

Leading Gulf states lashed out at Qatar and withdrew their ambassadors from Doha for its support of Morsi and his Muslim Brotherhood group, which is currently blacklisted by Egypt as "a terrorist organisation."

But after the recent agreement in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE agreed to return their ambassadors to Qatar.

"We are looking forward to a new era that can overcome the disagreements of the past and provide hope and optimism for our peoples," the Egyptian presidential statement said.

Ex-military chief and now president Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi removed Morsi last year after mass protests against his one-year rule.

Ever since, the new leadership has launched a massive crackdown on the ousted Islamist president's supporters that have left about 1,000 of them killed and thousands more arrested, including Morsi himself.