On Monday, Bahrain reopened the file of the bridge that is supposed to link it with Qatar, a vital project that was suspended more than once previously due to the Gulf diplomatic crises with Doha.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Transport for Land Transport and Post, Sami Bouhaza, said that it is important for “the Bahrain Causeway Corporation – Qatar to continue its activities and to continue working on developing designs and operational plans for this important project,” according to what was reported. an agency Bahrain Official News (BNA).
He pointed out that the Bahrain-Qatar bridge project “has a significant positive impact in strengthening the solid and historical ties between the citizens of the two countries,” stressing the importance of “working for everything that would achieve the aspirations of the citizens of the two countries in rapprochement and facilitating the movement of travel between the two countries.”
Bouhaza said, “We in the Kingdom of Bahrain renew the call to start bilateral talks between the two sides in accordance with the mechanisms agreed upon in the Al-Ula statement, referring in this regard to the invitation sent by the Bahraini Ministry of Foreign Affairs on January 11, 2021 to its Qatari counterpart to start bilateral talks and the other invitation that was directed in February 22, 2021”.
After a 4-year hiatus for the project, which was announced for the first time more than two decades ago, under the name “The Love Bridge”, in October 2013, the Bahrain Causeway Foundation – Qatar met to discuss designs for the bridge linking the two countries, which is supposed to be the longest bridge in the world. Days before turning the page on the first disputes, during which Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and the UAE withdrew their ambassadors from Doha in 2013.
But the project stopped again after the Gulf crisis in which the same countries announced their complete boycott of Qatar and the closure of its land and air borders to Doha in the summer of 2017. Despite the return of relations between Saudi Arabia and the UAE with Qatar through the Gulf summit in Al-Ula in early 2021, Doha and Manama relations did not Resume until now after the talks remained suspended between the two countries.