(Photo for representation). Baher Amin © The Peninsula
ANKARA/Doha: Turkish exporters are ready to meet demand for food and water from Qatar, the head of Turkey's main exporting trade body told Reuters on Wednesday, allowing the Gulf state to stave off possible shortages after its biggest suppliers cut ties.
Mehmet Buyukeksi, chairman of the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM), told Reuters that exporters stood ready to fill the gap after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia cut trade ties with Qatar.
Qatar is talking to Turkey and other countries about securing food and water supplies to stave off possible shortages two days after its biggest suppliers, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, cut trade and diplomatic ties, a government official said on Wednesday.
"We are in talks with Turkey and Iran and other countries," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the subject, adding that the supplies would be brought in through Qatar Airways cargo flights.
The official said there were enough grain supplies in the market in Qatar to last four weeks and that the government also had large strategic food reserves in Doha.
Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain severed relations with Qatar and closed their airspace to commercial flights on Monday. Qatar vehemently denies the accustations.
It is the worst split between powerful Arab states in decades.
The moves isolating Qatar are disrupting trade in commodities from crude oil to metals and food, and deepening fears of a possible jolt to the global gas market, where the Gulf state is a major player.
Qatar has assured residents it has taken measures to assure that normal life continues.
The Ministry of Economy and Commerce released a video on Tuesday that showed supermarket shelves stocked with food and other goods after Qataris crowded into stores on Monday to stock up fearing shortages.
Although it is located in a volatile region of the world, its huge foreign currency reserves and comparatively small population mean arranging adequate new sources of food imports in an emergency is a possibility.
Qatar's ports and airports remained open to trade on Wednesday with countries not taking part in the Saudi-led boycott, a government official said.
"We have no problem with food supplies," Qatar's foreign minister told CNN on Tuesday. "We have strategic reserves in place since 2014, we don’t see that life will be affected."
