Egyptian media is reporting that the Deputy Chairman of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood is visiting Qatar for meetings with Qatari officials. According to an Ahram Online report:
Monday 5 Mar 2012 Muslim brotherhood deputy chairman Khairat El-Shater left Cairo for Doha on Monday for a visit that will last several days during which he will meet a number of Qatari officials. El-Shater will discuss both recent developments in Egypt as well as regional affairs. Sources close to the Muslim Brotherhood say that El-Shater will discuss with Qatari officials the coordination between the Brotherhood, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) and Qatar in the upcoming period. It is not known if the question of funding will be on the table. In October, Qatar gave Egypt a grant of $500 million to support the government’s budget. A major business tycoon, El-Shater is not only the second man in the Muslim Brotherhood but also considered by many observers as the main finance figure of the group. There is speculation that El-Shater will be the candidate for prime minister in the coalition government that the FJP has been calling for recently. Parliamentary Speaker Saad El-Katatni is also abroad on a visit to Kuwait for a meeting of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union.
An earlier post discussed the relocation of Hamas political leader Khaled Mashaal from Syria to Qatar in yet another sign of the country growing importance as a center of the Global Muslim Brotherhood. A series of recent and important Global Muslim Brotherhood events have been held in Qatar illustrating the increasing importance of the country to the Global Muslim Brotherhood.