Doha: Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, has said he hopes for “progress” in the efforts to resolve the Gulf diplomatic crisis following talks with Saudi Arabia, adding that the parties have “moved from a stalemate” in the two-year dispute, Aljazeera.com reported yesterday.

H E the Deputy Premier said conversation did not revolve around the 13 impractical demands for the return of relations with Doha and that the negotiations are moving away from them, Al Jazeera.net has reported.

The Deputy Prime Minister, during his speech at the Mediterranean Dialogues Forum which is currently being held in Rome, yesterday said: “There are discussions with the brothers in Saudi Arabia and we hope that they will produce positive results.”

“We moved from an impasse in the Gulf crisis to talks about a future vision regarding the relationship with Saudi Arabia,” he said in the first official statement from Doha on the developments of the Gulf reconciliation issue.

“We did not support political Islam or the Muslim Brotherhood movement, but our support was for the people and not for the political parties,” H E the Deputy Prime Minister said. He further said: “Our support for Egypt did not stop even after the coup against elected President Mohamed Mursi,” stressing that the Muslim Brotherhood does not have an official presence in Qatar.

On the relationship with Iran, H E the Deputy Prime Minister said that his country is committed to a good-neighbourly relationship with Tehran and will not forget that it opened its airspace to Qatar after the siege.

Regarding freedom in Qatar, H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said: “I think there are no similar examples of the level of freedoms being enjoyed in Qatar,” stressing that Qatar does not have major problems and yet Al Jazeera highlights the problems that Qatar suffers from.

H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani stressed that Qatar’s internal affairs will not be negotiated with any party, adding, “We have our independent policy.”

Recently, Saudi Arabia confirmed the invitation of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, to attend the Gulf Summit in Riyadh.