UAE reopens mail link with rival Qatar

The United Arab Emirates has restored mail services with Qatar, the UN postal agency said, after severing them in 2017 as part of a regional campaign to isolate Doha. The UAE, along with its allies Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Egypt, cut all diplomatic, trade and transport ties with Qatar in June 2017.

The four governments accused Doha of backing radical Islamists, including the Muslim Brotherhood, and seeking closer ties with Saudi arch-rival Tehran - allegations Qatar vehemently denies.

Representatives of the four boycott countries met a Qatari delegation at the Universal Postal Union's (UPU) headquarters in the Swiss capital Bern on January 29 to discuss the reestablishment of postal links.Only the UAE has so far agreed. The UPU is a UN agency responsible for coordinating global postal services.

"These were constructive discussions, hopefully the countries will now resume their postal arrangements - and they are a positive step in the right direction," a UPU spokesman told AFP late Monday.

The UPU said in a technical notice to postal operators seen by AFP that "effective February 9, 2020, Emirates Post will resume the sending of mails to the State of Qatar, using open and closed transit options via Oman".