Khalid Abdulla
GCC information ministers agreed at their meeting in Doha on June 12 to form a dedicated team to develop the required visualisation on finding a common interactive executive platform between the GCC countries to increase the effectiveness of shared media movement internationally. The team should finish its work no later than a month from the date of this meeting, with the aim of establishing solidarity with the State of Qatar to address the malicious campaigns that suggest of preventing our country from hosting the World Cup in 2022.
Time has passed by and there is no more time left on the set schedule, which requires quick action to finalise the visualisation and start a new phase of concentrated media work that convinced Information Ministers to adopt it and push it forward.
The Doha meeting proved its importance in the activation and development of the Gulf Media plans to interact creatively with the objectives of the call of Gulf ministers to address the media for all those who seek to question the right of the State of Qatar in hosting the 2022 World Cup.
FIFA’s Domenico Scala said in a critical report published in a Swiss newspaper regarding the World Cup hosting that “Russia and Qatar may lose their rights to host the World Cups in 2018 and 2022 if there was evidence that they paid bribes to secure that privilege.”
Based on this FIFA report, all world media started exchanging the news, which was initially publicised by CNN, summed up in the following statement: “Based on the views of experts and facts on the ground, the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA), does not have any legal basis for withdrawing the hosting of the World Cup from Russia in 2018 or Qatar in 2022.”
One of the most basic duties of the media in the Member States is to support such unprecedented achievement and show its positive outcomes at the GCC level, being recommended by Gulf Information Ministers in their 23rd meeting in Doha and confirmed by the GCC Ministerial Council during their recent meeting at Riyadh Air Base, expressing their “strong condemnation of the campaign which is trying to undermine the maturity of the State of Qatar to host the FIFA World Cup 2022 championship.”
Unfortunately, international and regional media deliberately tarnished, confused reports, concluded illusions based on assumptions, and fabricated untrue reports to come up with a fake outcome, while the State of Qatar, thanks to God and the confidence of its officials in their past achievements, is well prepared to host the World Cup in 2022, regardless of impeders and defeatists.
We hope to see a strong stand of solidarity from GCC media, specifically with the State of Qatar, and full support in hosting this important global sporting event, which was granted by entitlement and merit through fair competition witnessed by all.
It is impossible to remove Qatar from organising such an event. We are confident in FIFA’s procedures to make us well-deserving of this privilege because we have given the best offer.
His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs said and we all say: “Our Gulf brothers and we are convinced that Qatar is well-deserved of the honour of organising the most important tournament in the world, and we will prove that we are well qualified.”
Keep safe!
