Emir Qatar’s Pakistan visit was brief but it has a wider historical and futuristic context and potential for a long term relationship. Emerging relations of Qatar and Pakistan are expected to benefit both countries in the field of trade and strategic relations.

Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, was in Pakistan for a brief one-day visit in the third week of June 2019. Emir, and his delegation, arrived in the evening of Friday 22, he was personally received, at Noor Khan airbase, (known to residents of Islamabad as the old airport) by Imran Khan, Pakistan’s premier, who personally drove him to Prime Minister’s house in Islamabad where a one on one meeting took place between the Emir and the Prime Minister of Pakistan.

During the visit to, Qatar announced keeping $3 billion in State Bank of Pakistan to support country’s balance of payments. Three memoranda of understanding (MoU) were signed between Qatar and Pakistan, in trade and investment, tourism and business events, and exchange of financial intelligence and then Emir left in the early afternoon of June 23.

Step by step, process of engagement was thus necessary between Islamabad and Doha. But the process was made trickier because the new Pakistani government was also busy engaging its traditional allies in the gulf – Saudi Arabia and UAE – and unfortunately since June 2017 GCC countries had developed serious fault lines amongst themselves leading to a blockade of tiny Doha by Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt.

However, notwithstanding the romanticism of Islamic bonds, importance of tiny Doha was never lost to decision makers in Islamabad and Pindi. Qatar in recent years has emerged as the largest gas exporter of the world along with Australia and Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) founded in 2005 now maintains one of the biggest and most active sovereign wealth fund that is estimated to be around $350 billion. In January 2019, Qatar has withdrawn from OPEC (Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries) on the grounds that it is more of a gas exporter than that of petroleum.

In recent ongoing US-Iran tensions Doha offered mediation between Washington and Tehran and for the past several years Afghan Taliban had been maintaining their official presence in Doha which has finally supported the US-Taliban dialogue of which Pakistan is an active supporter.

It was the third meeting between the Taliban and US officials since the appointment of Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad as US special envoy for peace and reconciliation in Afghanistan – but it was the first that took place outside Doha that hosts Taliban’s political office. Diplomatic sources familiar with the situation believed that the meeting was convened outside Qatar to underscore Pakistan’s role in arranging it, and at the same time allowing participation of the UAE and Saudi Arabia, both of whom had last year cut diplomatic ties with Doha.

Qatar, to develop a deeper interest, will like Pakistan to improve its balancing act in the region and its internal economic commitments. Cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy should be to show autonomy to maintain its relationship with all brotherly GCC countries in such a way that it can offer mediation and conflict resolution between them. With the meeting of Pakistan’s Prime Minister, with US President Donald Trump scheduled for the third week of July 2019, this becomes all the more important. Islamabad and the world has to learn the “art of hedging” from tiny Doha.