Qatar will act as a balancing actor within the GCC

Significance This completes the normalisation of relations between Qatar and other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) members under the 2021 Al-Ula Declaration; already Doha had normalised its ties with Saudi Arabia and, less straightforwardly, with the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Al-Ula Declaration succeeded where the 2014 Riyadh Agreement failed because it was better considered and structured. Shifting regional geopolitics helped too. Impacts The resetting of objectives will draw a line under the regional volatility in the GCC which began with the Arab uprisings in 2011. Officials across the GCC will confront a different set of challenges which no longer revolve around Qatar’s policy choices. Economic competition between Saudi Arabia and the UAE is likely to create opportunities for Doha to balance regional relationships.