Qatari finance minister says Gaza war to slow Middle East economies

The war in Gaza will hit economies across the Middle East if it is not resolved and the conflict urgently needs a non-military solution, Qatar's finance minister told Reuters.

Qatar, whose mediators are involved in talks on the release of Israeli hostages by Hamas, has also helped mediate in several regional conflicts including in Afghanistan.

"The solution is really to look for a permanent solution for the main issue in the Middle East which is the Palestinian problem. This cannot be fixed by military actions," Qatar's Finance Minister Ali Al Kuwari said in Davos.

"If you leave them long term unresolved, we will always go through cycles of violence, cycles of unrest, and which always will slow down the region," he said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in the Swiss mountain resort.



Reuters