Egypt’s Cairo Tower lit up in maroon to celebrate Qatar’s National Day on Friday night, a move that marks improvement in relations.

The Qatari embassy published a video on social media showing how the iconic Cairo Tower lit up with Qatar's flag colours to celebrate the Gulf state National day, which falls on 18 December.

This is the first time Cairo Tower celebrates the Qatari National Day, marking the improvement of the Egyptian—Qatari bilateral relations following the signing Al-Ula agreement in January in Saudi Arabia, which ended a diplomatic rift of three years and a half between the Arab Quartet — Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain — and Qatar.

The quartet had cut diplomatic, economic, and travel ties with Qatar in June 2017, accusing Doha of interfering in their internal affairs and supporting terrorist groups, accusations that Qatar denied.

In November, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met for the second time this year with the Qatari leader at the UN Climate Change Conference in Scotland.

In Mid-November, Egypt’s new Ambassador to Qatar Amr El-Sherbini presented his credentials to the Gulf state's Emir Tamim bin Hamed Al-Thani

In September, Qatar’s new Ambassador to Egypt Mubarak Al-Shafi presented his credentials to President El-Sisi.

The national day of Qatar commemorates its national unification on 18 December 1878. It was officially recognized as a national day in June 2017 by then Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim Al-Thani