The Bahraini-Qatari Follow-up Committee announced, in a joint statement on Wednesday, that both countries decided to resume their diplomatic relations out of a shared desire to enhance the GCC unity and integration. The statenment, carried by Bahrain News Agency (BNA) and Qatar News Agency (QNA), followed the second meeting of the committee at the GCC Secretariat in Riyadh. The meeting was co-chaired by Undersecretary of the Bahraini Foreign Ministry for Political Affairs Dr. Shaikh Abdullah bin Ahmed Al Khalifa and Secretary-General of Qatar"s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Dr. Ahmad Hassan Al Hammadi. The agenda of the meeting included reviewing the outcomes of the first meeting of the Joint Legal Committee and the Joint Security Committee. Both sides decided to resume diplomatic relations "in accordance with the principles of the United Nations Charter and the provisions of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961," the statement said. They confirmed that this decision stems from the mutual desire to develop bilateral relations and enhance GCC integration and unity in accordance with the objectives of the GCC Statute, and respect for the principles of equality between states, national sovereignty, independence, territorial integrity and neighborliness, it added. — Agencies