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August 26, 2005 |
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PREMIER AL-SANIORA: WITH THE HELP OF SAUDI ARABIA WE FACED THE DIFFICULTIES OF THE WAR AND THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION. PRINCE SAUD AL-FAISAL: THOSE WHO CLAIM JIHAD IN IRAQ ARE KILLING THEIR BROTHERS AND IRAQI LEADERS MUST LET NATIONAL INTERESTS SUPERSEDE SECTARIAN INTERESTS. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz has sent a cable of congratulations to President Leonid Kotshma of Ukraine on the occasion of his country's independence day. The Monarch expressed his good wishes to the President and people of Ukraine and highlighted the existing good relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Ukraine. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz received at his office visiting President of the Transitional Republic of Somalia Abdullah Yousef Ahmed and the accompanying delegation. During the audience, they discussed bilateral relations between the two countries and ways of enhancing them in addition to the latest developments at the regional and international arenas. The audience was attended by Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister, Defense and Aviation Minister and Inspector General, and a number of princes, ministers and officials. Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz received the Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Saniora and the accompanying delegation. During the audience, issues of common interest were discussed. The audience was attended by Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation Minister and Inspector General, and a number of princes, ministers and officials. Lebanese Premier Fouad Saniora highlighted Saudi support for Lebanon in all fields. In statements to Saudi Press Agency in Beirut on his way to Saudi Arabia, he underlined the strength of Saudi-Lebanese relations. He said his visit to Saudi Arabia aims at briefing the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz on current Lebanese developments. The Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Saniora had arrived in Jeddah on a visit to the kingdom. At King Abdul Aziz International Airport, he was received by Minister of Culture and Information Iyad Madani, Saudi ambassador to Lebanon Dr. Abdul Aziz Khojah and a number of officials. Lebanese Premier Fouad Saniora left Jeddah after a visit to the kingdom. At King Abdul Aziz International Airport, he was seen off by Minister of Culture and Information Iyad Madani, Saudi ambassador to Lebanon Dr. Abdul Aziz Khojah and a number of officials. Premier Saniora returned to Beirut from a one-day visit to Saudi Arabia with a pledge from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz to support Lebanon in its hazardous drive to rebuild a democratic state after the downfall of Syria's 19-year dominance. "Rest assured you in Lebanon. We are aware of your conditions and we are fully prepared to support you," the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdul Aziz told Saniora during a session of talks at the Red Sea Saudi city of Jeddah, An Nahar reported. In Jeddah, the Saudi official news agency SPA said the talks focused on "developments on the Arab, Islamic and international scenes, chiefly the Palestinian issue and the situation in Iraq, in addition to prospects of cooperation between the two brotherly countries and ways of boosting them in all fields." Saniora hailed Saudi Arabia after the meeting for "constantly standing by Lebanon's side and its people," SPA added. He said he briefed King Abdullah on the "political, economic, social and administrative reforms" being implemented by his government "to enable the Lebanese economy to overcome the challenges" it faces. Seniora said the Saudi monarch had long played a major role in enhancing ties between Beirut and Riyadh and contributed to the success of the November 2002 Paris-2 conference, which extended more than $4 billion to Lebanon's survival. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora praised Saudi Arabia's contributions to Lebanon, saying "the kingdom has greatly contributed in empowering Lebanon thus making it able to overcome the problems resulted from the Lebanese Civil War and the Israeli occupation and invasions." Siniora's remarks came in an interview with the Saudi News Agency on the eve of his visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Siniora further praised Saudi Arabia for helping Lebanon getting back on its feet, "especially in the Paris II Donor Conference of 2002 and the aid given from the Saudi Development Fund and the Islamic Development Fund." Regarding the future of economic relations between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, Siniora said: "I think that throughout the previous stages, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been a welcome help to Lebanese economy. "The economic developments in the regions and in the world enable the Kingdom to play a basic role in the upcoming stage so that Lebanon and the Lebanese people increase their contributions in the growth of the Saudi economy. Also, the kingdom can provide more support through its citizens and institutes to Lebanon." Siniora said: "This is a visit that we are proud of because of the good and exceptional relation between Lebanon and Saudi Arabia. We will be updating his majesty the king of the latest developments occurring in Lebanon after the assassination of Premier Rafiq Hariri and after the formation of the new government." "We also want to inform His Majesty of the political, economic, social and administrative reform that the Lebanese government is doing to empower the economy in order to fight the challenges that Lebanon is currently bearing and to empower the country to get the support it needs from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in all phases." Saudi-Lebanese relations have been very strong due to the encouragement of former Premier Rafiq Hariri, who also held Saudi Arabian nationality. "I am fully confident, and so are the Lebanese that the kingdom wants to boost the political and economic situations in Lebanon. Saudi Arabia will remain committed to the path followed by all officials during the past decades. And they in turn will exert efforts and assume a main role in supporting stability, growth and development projects in Lebanon." As for the Arab-Israeli conflict, Siniora said he considered the Saudi initiative "still is the main pillar for finding a practical solution for the problem, and Lebanon has always been supportive of this initiative." On another scale Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Saudi Foreign Minister, highlighted the Saudi government's efforts in the field of economic development. In a press briefing, he spoke on terrorism reiterating the need for fighting it internationally. On the Palestinian cause, he hoped the withdrawal from Gaza will be followed by withdrawal from the occupied Palestinian and Arab lands. The minister denounced acts by Israeli settlers against the Palestinians. He commended statements by Palestinian Authority's president Mahmoud Abbas calling for an end to violence. With the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and parts of the West Bank, Saudi Arabia will press on with the Arab peace initiative and the Road Map, with the hope that there will be further withdrawals. Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said in the press conference that the Arab peace initiative will remain an element of the Kingdom's foreign policy on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. The Kingdom has never backed down on King Abdullah's initiative on peace with Israel, said the Prince. We hope that Israel's withdrawal (from Gaza) is a first step to be followed with more, eventually leading to complete withdrawal from all occupied Arab and Palestinian lands. Our initiative has always been comprehensive peace for complete withdrawal. He said he hoped the withdrawal would help the Palestinian people build their independent state, with Jerusalem as its capital. He also said that with every step forward with the peace process, it is normal to have some extreme calls and provocations and aggressions that aim at thwarting the peace process. The Kingdom denounces these provocative acts and warns against those attempts at destroying the peace process. He praised Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas for his call to put a halt to violence, boost Palestinian national dialogue and focus efforts on rebuilding Gaza, as well as pressing on with the peace process to achieve a complete Israeli withdrawal from all occupied territories. Saudi Arabia said it hoped Iraq's draft constitution would guarantee unity and warned that confrontational disputes may lead to the partition of the state along sectarian lines. "Saudi Arabia... hopes that the constitution will meet the aspirations of the Iraqi people in consecrating national unity and maintaining its Arab and Muslim identity," said Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal during a news conference in Jeddah. Prince Saud said the Kingdom hoped the charter, submitted to Parliament despite lingering differences, would achieve the Iraqi people's "aspirations for security, stability and prosperity." He warned that sectarian stances "will not lead to anything but the partition of Iraq along sectarian lines." He called on Iraqi leaders to "let national interests supersede sectarian interests." Prince Saud said Saudi Arabia had so far shied away from opening an embassy in Baghdad because of the deteriorating security situation, which included a spate of deadly attacks against foreign diplomats. "The security problem is preventing us from opening a Saudi Embassy in Baghdad. There is no political obstacle," he said. "When the security situation settles down, we will open our embassy immediately." Diplomatic relations were broken off with Baghdad when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait in 1990. Prince Saud Al-Faisal expressed concern over some sectarian calls there and called on Iraqis to give priority to national interest. Prince Saud said that the Kingdom offered the Iraqi government its help to identify and capture any Saudis who are in Iraq to fight alongside insurgents against occupying US-led troops. On its own, the Iraqi government can find it difficult to identify the Saudis among the insurgents, said the Prince. We can help the Iraqis identify them. The innocent ones who did not participate in any insurgency will be brought back home, and the ones who have will be held accountable. He said he was worried about some sectarian voices in Iraq whose calls do not serve well Iraq's unity, its Arab-Islamic identity and its security. (Such calls) will only break up Iraq into sectarian splinters in an unprecedented way, said the Prince. Therefore, we call on the Iraqis to put their national interest before these sectarian interests. On oil, Prince Saud blamed the sharp price increase on a shortage of refinery capacity in consumer nations. He said the Kingdom will continue efforts to moderate the increase in oil prices. "No matter how much production is increased, prices will only be affected if consuming countries have sufficient refineries," he said. Saudi Arabia has a "balanced policy to keep prices moderate so that they don't affect the global economy," Prince Saud added. The Prince also said the government is working closely with the UK government on the issue of Saudis wanted by the government and living in the UK. We are working closely with the UK on that issue, and there is a joint committee that is keeping track of it, and we hope to receive them soon, he said. He stated that contacts are continuing and the committee between the two countries is working daily. "We hope the committee will reach an agreement on this subject. Recently, there has been a considerable positive response from the British government," he said. On the issue of opening a Saudi embassy in Iraq, he said it will be opened as soon as security is established in Iraq. The Foreign Minister noted that there are some Saudi prisoners in Iraq adding, "We don't want any Saudis to go there," because what they are doing is not a jihad (holy war.) Replying to a question, he stressed that the Saudi initiative for peace in the Middle East is still there and said he believes it complements the Road Map. Responding to another question, he called on extremist journalists and the so-called experts in some US media not to aid terrorists in their aim of undermining Saudi-US relations. The foreign minister condemned both the rocket attacks in Aqaba that occurred on Aug. 19 and the terror acts in Bangladesh on Aug. 17. He said they proved terrorists would not hesitate to use any method in order to achieve their goals in disturbing the peace and threatening international security. "This emphasizes again the need to double international efforts in facing and stamping out terrorism," said Prince Saud. Prince Saud said that the Kingdom is working closely with the US administration on a possible extradition of Saudi detainees in Guantanamo Bay, but stopped short of giving any possible date for releases or extraditions. We are into well-advanced negotiations with the US government on the Guantanamo issue, and we hope that we can extradite the (Saudi) detainees as soon as possible, he said. There are still 121 Saudis among some 500 inmates from around the world who have been held at the camp since the US-led war in Afghanistan in late 2001. Three Saudi detainees were repatriated from Guantanamo earlier this year, and five others in May 2003. The Saudi government is exerting continued efforts to repatriate all its citizens detained abroad. The camp has been the focus of worldwide controversy following allegations that US forces have abused detainees. The foreign minister confirmed that there were Saudi prisoners in Iraq. "We have asked the Iraqi government to allow us to communicate with them and in helping identify them. The Saudi government can also help in investigations if the Iraqi government requested us," he added. "We want to bring the innocent back home and want to identify the guilty and find out how they entered Iraq." Saudi Arabia has banned citizens who want to join the insurgents from going to Iraq. "It is not Jihad," Prince Saud said. He said that the Kingdom has not received any invitation from US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to attend Quartet meetings, adding that it has been normal for various Arab countries to attend the meetings. If we get such an invitation, we would certainly attend, he said. Prince Saud said the Saudi government has always maintained a balanced policy on oil that aimed at maintaining prices at certain levels, in a way that would keep the global economy stable. The problem with oil prices is not one of supply, said the Prince. There is plenty of oil on the market. However, the problem is under-capacity in processing. For years now, no new oil refineries have been built to cope with the increasing demand. How can you get oil products to the consumer when you don t have enough refineries to process the oil? The Foreign Minister said in a statement he read to reporters that the Kingdom's recent economic decisions, most recent of which was a 15 percent raise to all military personnel and civil employees, were part of comprehensive economic reforms that will influence not only the Kingdom s interior policies, but also its foreign policies and global economic ties. These decisions prove beyond doubt that the Kingdom is pressing on with the policy of a hand to build, a hand to protect, he said, through achieving sustainable development on the one hand, and to maintain security and stability on the other. (This last point) has been proven with recent victories by security forces in fighting those with deviant thoughts and the struggle against terrorism. The Prince said that in the upcoming Arab League meeting of Arab foreign ministers next month, one of the items on the agenda that will be discussed is whether there is a need for an extraordinary Arab summit. You know that the ordinary Arab summit is decided for next March, so it will be an issue to discuss whether there is a need for an extraordinary one prior to that, the Prince said. |
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