His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, said that he discussed with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian, who is currently visiting the country, bilateral relations between the two countries and ways to enhance joint cooperation.
The foreign minister wrote on his Twitter account this evening: “I discussed with the French foreign minister, who is currently visiting the country, the bilateral relations between our two friendly countries and ways to enhance joint cooperation in areas of common interest, as well as stressing the need to reject all forms of hate speech, incitement and infringement of religious symbols.”
Earlier in the day, Qatar and France stressed the need to resolve disputes through quiet diplomacy, combat everything that threatens peace and stability in the region and the world, reject extremism, combat terrorism, and stand before all forms of racist and exclusionary discourse in the world, during a press conference held, today, the Minister of Foreign Affairs with Jean Yves Le Drian.
His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said that the Qatari and French sides exchanged views during their meeting today on common issues in the region, especially developments in resolving the Gulf crisis, developments in Lebanon, Libya and several other countries in the region, as well as the importance of strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries and issues of extremism. Violence and terrorism, and ways to combat this phenomenon that threatens humanity.
In the press conference, he affirmed the State of Qatar’s belief in the need to address the root causes of terrorism and extremism, which he attributed to social and economic causes fed by other extremist ideologies, stressing the need to systematically consider this phenomenon and statistics, away from stereotypical and superficial impressions and polarized media, and what it is trying to portray in this regard. He pointed out that an objective view of the issues of violent extremism clarifies that this phenomenon is not related to or linked to any religion or race, stressing that the Islamic religion and the Prophet of Islam are not symbols of extremism.
In this context, His Excellency said, “We affirm that the tolerant Islamic religion and the Prophet of Islam, our Master, Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, are not symbols of extremism. Rather, they have established an important human civilization that has made many contributions to humanity. Therefore, the discourse that fuels Islamophobia stands here in the State of Qatar, and we must stand firmly before it. The world also stands before all forms of racist and exclusionary discourse of the other. “
