“Qatar gives excuses as having online meeting as reasons to reject Tinubu’s request to visit and attend Investment & Business Conference in the UAE”
The State of Quatar has Diplomatically turned down the request of the President of Nigeria, Bola Tinubu to visit and hold business and investment sessions with them.
This was conveyed via a terse memo from the Abuja Embassy of United Arab Emirates (UAE) to Protocol Department of Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Abuja dated 22nd February, 2024.
In the response, they offered reasons why they turned down the request as not having any bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreements to necessitate the planned visit and meeting.
Secondly, the Minister in charge of Commerce that will anchor such meeting they claimed will be officially engaged with more important activities and thirdly, the State of Quatar will be hosting crucial Web Summit at that period. Diplomatic experts viewed these reasons as flimsy and opined that it was clear sign of outright rejection.
The response letter concluded by not offering Nigeria any Window to reschedule the said visit and failed to offer any form of apologies for their inability to host the President of Nigeria.
Recall that during President Tinubu’s earlier visit, there were conflicting reports on the status of Aviation agreement reached. While Nigeria said that UAE will commence immediate flights to Nigeria, UAE refuted it and said that wasn’t said.
