Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos on Monday met Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in Doha.

The foreign ministry said that during that meeting, the pair discussed “prospects for the further strengthening of relations” between Cyprus and Qatar, Cyprus’ forthcoming six-month term as the holder of the Council of the European Union’s rotating presidency, and “current regional developments”.

Those developments, the ministry added, included the situation in Syria, as well as “efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, the release of hostages, and the provision of humanitarian aid to civilians”.

The pair had most recently spoken in June, shortly after the brief conflict between Iran and Israel, with Kombos at the time saying he had “commended the Qatari leadership” which brought about the eventual de-escalation.

Qatar had itself briefly been at the centre of that conflict when Iran fired missiles at the United States’ Al Udeid airbase in the country on Monday, in response to the US bombing of three nuclear facilities in Iran the day before.

After the bombing of the Al Udeid base, the US had asked Qatar to help in mediating an end to the conflict, with the ceasefire being announced by US President Donald Trump a little over a day after Qatar had been hit by missiles.

Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari later told CNN that there was “momentum created” by the ceasefire in terms of a possible broader normalisation of relations between countries in the region and a possible lasting ceasefire in Gaza.

Relations between Cyprus and Qatar have deepened more broadly in recent years, with President Nikos Christodoulides saying during a visit of Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to Nicosia last year that Cyprus can be considered as Qatar’s “ambassador in Brussels”.

 “We are in the same region, we have excellent relations, but there are many prospects for further strengthening our bilateral relations, as well as for our cooperation in the region,” he said.