°®Âþµº

emir met the de facto ruler of the United Arab Emirates during an official event at the , in the first such interaction between the two Gulf leaders since four Arab states agreed to end a dispute with Doha over a year ago.

Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani met Abu Dhabi on the sidelines of a lunch hosted by China's president on Saturday, Qatar's state news agency said.

UAE news websites published a video clip of the two leaders speaking.

Abu Dhabi has yet to restore diplomatic ties with Doha since Saudi Arabia,, Bahrain and Egypt agreed in January 2021 to end a row that led them to boycott Qatar in mid-2017, though a senior Emirati official visited Doha last August.

and Egypt last year appointed ambassadors to Qatar. All but Bahrain have restored travel and trade links.

Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain and Egypt, accusing it of links to Islamist groups and being too close to Iran, allegations Doha strongly denies.

The four other Middle Eastern countries sealedÌýtheir airspace to , shutteredÌýQatar's only land border and expelledÌýQatari citizens.

The regional standoff concluded earlier this year with an agreement signed by Arab leaders in. Ultimately, Qatar did not give in to a list of demands the quartet had made, including that it closeÌýitsÌýAl JazeeraÌýnews channel.