US officially designates Qatar as a major non-NATO ally | News

First introduced at assembly between Qatari emir and Joe Biden in January, transfer upgrades partnership between two nations.

The USA has formally designated Qatar as a serious non-NATO ally, a transfer that upgrades the partnership between Doha and Washington and offers the Gulf nation particular financial and army privileges in its relationship with the US.

US President Joe Biden issued a presidential declaration formally saying the change on Thursday afternoon, weeks after a pledge he made to Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani on the White Home in late January.

Biden mentioned at the moment that designating Qatar a serious non-NATO ally of the US aimed “to mirror the significance of our relationship; I believe it’s lengthy overdue”.

Qatar is now the third nation within the Gulf area after Kuwait and Bahrain to turn out to be a US main non-NATO ally.

The US State Division says on its web site that the designation “is a strong image of the shut relationship the USA shares with these international locations and demonstrates our deep respect for the friendship for the international locations to which it’s prolonged”.

The US and Qatar have had shut relations for years, collaborating on numerous points, together with the evacuation of Afghan refugees following the Taliban’s takeover of the nation in August.

Thursday’s declaration comes amid international concern over vitality provides and surging gas costs attributable to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

Amid a slew of sanctions in opposition to Moscow, the Biden administration this week imposed a ban on all Russian oil and gasoline imports. The European Union, which depends on Russia for a lot of its pure gasoline, additionally promised to dramatically lower the bloc’s dependence on Moscow by 12 months’s finish.

Qatar is among the largest producers of liquified pure gasoline (LNG).