(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
In an interview with the Lusail newspaper, Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy and Industry, talked about Qatar economy after the blockade.
He also talked about ‘terrorist' operations carried out by blockading states and how Qatar intervened to save King Abdullah, former Saudi king, from an assassination attempt.
"When Saudi Arabia accused Qatar of conspiring to assassinate King Abdullah, that day, Qatar actually saved King Abdullah by informing them about the attempted assassination plot against him from Libya and Gaddafi," Al Attiya said.
"The person who planned to assassinate King Abdullah now lives in Abu Dhabi, they know he lives there. I think, this means that UAE is behind the plan to assassinate King Abdullah. I am not sure of that, but that is the only explanation for the person's existence there," he added.
About the blockade on Qatar, Attiyah said: "We dealt with Saudi Arabia in all transparency and love, we also dealt with the other blockading countries with transparency, but they dealt with us on the contrary, this is not Arab morals."
'Sadly, the countries of the siege have mixed politics with economy. They accused Qatar of terrorism, but, have not turned the matter over to the Dispute Settlement Committee of GCC because they know for sure that they have no evidence," he added.
"I gave many lectures at universities in Europe and USA. I asked everyone about the reason for the blockade. I asked Abu Dhabi to give us a convincing answer. There is a big question mark.
'Abu Dhabi could not explain the continued purchase of Qatari gas. Abu Dhabi has a gas crisis because 35% of electricity production depends on Qatari gas, and the rest is used in oil derivatives, which is very expensive and not suitable for the environment and adversely affect them."
'The reasons of the blockade could be to solve their gas problem by invading Qatar and occupying the largest gas field in the world. It could be enough for 200 years, and it would provide them with billions of dollars to supply a pipeline from the Al Shamal field to Saudi Arabia. Also, pipelines to transport gas to Bahrain and then to Egypt, he added.
OPEC
'The decision to exit from OPEC is 100% correct. Saudi Arabia runs things outside OPEC and does not give OPEC any respect. When they want to increase production, they increase it without consulting the organization. OPEC is an organization that was well respected in the past. OPEC's share in the 1960s and 1950s was 70% of the total market share, but today it is less than 35%.
When OPEC lost its role, it has no goals and is managed in a non-professional way, so leaving OPEC was a wise decision, why do we pay all this money without any benefit?
Attiyah is in London after a successful surgery as he had been infected with fibrosis in the lungs.
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