DOHA: German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser will attend Germany’s opening match at the World Cup in Qatar, she confirmed on Tuesday, despite a recent diplomatic spat between the two countries.
Faeser, who is also Germany’s minister for sport, is visiting Doha just days after casting doubt in a television interview on whether Qatar should stage the tournament.
Her comments, made with reference to concerns over the treatment of migrant workers and the LGBTQ community, prompted Qatar’s foreign ministry to summon the German ambassador.
“It is important to support the country of Qatar in groundbreaking reforms,“ Faeser said Tuesday at the end of a two-day visit to the country.
“That is why I have decided to continue to be part of the process and travel to the first match of the German team.”
Faeser said Qatar’s Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa Al Thani had offered her a “guarantee of safety” for LGBTQ fans during the tournament.
“All people, no matter where they come from, who they love and what they believe in, must be safe at the World Cup,“ she said.
German lawmakers joined Faeser on the visit, but the German government’s human rights commissioner Luise Amtsberg pulled out.
Faeser had said in her television interview that holding the World Cup in Qatar was “very tricky” from Berlin’s perspective.
“It would be better that tournaments are not awarded to such states,“ she added.
Qatar, an increasingly important natural gas supplier for Europe, is sensitive to criticism of its treatment of migrant workers, as well as rights for women and the LGBTQ community.
Germany would “continue to support reforms in Qatar after the World Cup to further improve the lives of migrant workers and the human rights situation,“ Faeser said.
Germany play Japan in their opening match of the tournament on November 23.-AFP
