SINGAPORE – Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing and Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister, Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, discussed the need for rights of transit passage along shipping routes on the sidelines of the 23rd Shangri-La Dialogue.
The Ministry of Defence said on May 29 that the two leaders agreed on the importance of upholding navigational rights and freedoms in international waterways and exchanged views on the evolving developments in the Middle East.
This comes amid the months-long disruption in the Strait of Hormuz due to the Iran conflict.
In their meeting at the Shangri-La Singapore hotel, Mr Chan and Sheikh Saoud, who is also Qatar’s Minister of State for Defence Affairs, reiterated the shared commitment to regional peace and stability, and discussed ways to strengthen defence relations.
Since the start of the war, Iran has hit Qatar – a designated major non-NATO ally of the United States – with hundreds of missiles and drones, targeting civilian infrastructure and its vital liquefied natural gas (LNG) production facility at Ras Laffan in north-eastern Qatar.
The effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran has caused a global disruption of fertiliser and natural gas supplies, and has also cut off virtually all of Qatar’s LNG export capacity.
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