 Hello and welcome to Chanakya IS Academy. I'm Priya Kumari and today daily current affairs topic is Solidarity and stability deal. So points of discussion for this topic is why this topic is in news, then background, the deal, rationality, then Gulf cooperation, then GCC and India. So let's see one by one. So why this topic is in news? Recently, Gulf leaders have signed a solidarity and stability agreement towards ending the diplomatic rift with Qatar at a summit in Saudi Arabia. The announcement at the Gulf Arab leaders meeting in the Saudi Arabia with the annual summit taking place amid a breakthrough in the dispute between a Saudi-led bloc and Qatar that started in June 2017. So what is the background behind this whole issue? In 2017, Saudi Arabia led an Arab transport blockade against Qatar ostensibly to punish Doha for its ties with radical Islamist groups. The bigger motivation probably was to pressure Qatar into reducing diplomatic and economic relationships with Iran, Saudi Arabia's great rival in the region. Coalition countries put 13 demands as conditions to resume relations, including shutting news organizations such as Al-Jazeera, closing a Turkish military base in the country and downgrading ties with Tehran. So what was Qatar's role? Qatar has gone from being one of the poorest Gulf states to one of the wealthiest, the presence of large gas reserves contributing significantly in helping it to become an influential player in the region's politics. Qatar called the whole embargo a violation of international laws and instead strengthened ties with Iran and Turkey. Qatar also denied backing Al-Qaeda and Islamic state, however. What is the Solidarity and Stability Deal? Members of GCC signed a deal in Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia to remove all the sanctions over Qatar and reopen their land, sea and air borders to Qatar. Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE are the members of GCC. We will see next what is this GCC. So leaders of six members, Gulf Cooperation Council or GCC, which I am saying, signed the Al-Ula Declaration which is named after the Saudi city where the summit is being held and a final communique. For the rationality behind this deal, so the rationality is to unite efforts to promote the Gulf region and to confront challenges that surround them or Gulf region, especially the threats posed by the Iranian regime's nuclear and ballistic missile program and its plan for sabotage and destruction. This rationality is given by the countries who have signed the deal. There is a desperate need today to unite Gulf efforts to promote region and to confront challenges that surround and to control Iranian regime's nuclear and ballistic missile program. So this rationality was given during the signing of the deal. So how this the whole deal will going to affect? So the summit is seen as positive. Yes, it is positive. It is a bignik of a process to heal the damage caused over the past three and a half years which started from 2017. It would open its borders to Qatar despite lingering issues between the neighbors. A positive summit unifying ranks and establishing fraternity. The current changes and challenges surrounding entire world require genuine strength, cohesion and cooperation as well as depth and stability. So what is this Gulf Cooperation Council or GCC? This is a political, economic, social and regional organization which was established by an agreement concluded in 1981 among Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and UAE in view of their spatial relations, geographic proximity, similar political systems based on Islamic beliefs, joint destiny and common objectives. The secretariat is located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. What was India's role in this whole situation? So India did avoid involvement in local or regional disputes in the region since Indian interests do not entail power projection but necessitate peace and regional stability. The Gulf is among India's top trading partners. The deepening energy interdependence is marked by growing volumes of energy imports into India. The number of Indian migrant workers in the region stands at more than 7 million. The expansion of the political engagement has been matched by the growing security cooperation especially on counter terrorism. India and its Gulf partners are also taking tentative steps towards defense cooperation. So that's all for today's topic. We will see you in the next topic. Till then, thank you and goodbye. Don't forget to like, share and subscribe to our channel and press the bell icon to never miss an update.