Egypt and Qatar have agreed to resume bilateral diplomatic relations, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry announced on Wednesday.

“Egypt and Qatar exchanged, on 20 January, two official memoranda, in virtue of which the two countries agreed to resume diplomatic relations,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.

The announcement comes a week after the signing of the Al-Ula reconciliation agreement which put an end to the three-year rift between Qatar on one side, and Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE on the other side. The agreement signing occurred during the 41st GCC summit, which took place in the Saudi city of Al-Ula.

Egypt stressed that it is imperative to build on this step to strengthen Arab actions, and support relations between the region’s countries. It added that this will be based on goodwill and non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries.

Earlier on 12 January, Egypt reopened its airspace to Qatari flights after more than three-year ban due to the Gulf crisis.

When the boycott was announced, Egypt and its allies called on Qatar to cut ties with the outlawed group, Muslim Brotherhood, among other demands.

The Islamist group was labelled terrorist in Egypt after the 30 June Revolution toppled the Brotherhood-affiliated President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.