Abu Dhabi crown prince paid a brief visit to Qatar yesterday to cement reconciliation between the two countries before the GCC Summit in Doha next month, official media said.

The trip by Shaikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan was the first since the UAE along with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain withdrew their ambassadors from Qatar in March, accusing it of supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.

The UAE, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain agreed at an emergency meeting in Riyadh on November 16 to return their ambassadors to Qatar, signalling an end to the crisis. The rift had threatened to undermine the December 9-10 summit.

The UAE and Saudi Arabia have both listed the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organisation.

Qatar has given sanctuary to some Brotherhood members and is seen to have been supportive of the Islamist group in Egypt and the UAE, and more recently in Libya.

The UAE state news agency Wam said the Amir of Qatar, Amir Shaikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, greeted Shaikh Mohammed and a delegation of senior officials accompanying him on their arrival.

Qatar's QNA news agency said the two leaders discussed 'the fraternal relations between the two brotherly countries, ways to consolidate them and prospects of reinforcing them' as well as GCC and regional issues. Shaikh Mohammed later returned to Abu Dhabi.-TradeArabia News Service