JEDDAH, 27 February 2007 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and his Jordanian counterpart King Abdallah held talks in Riyadh yesterday on major regional issues, including Palestine and Iraq.
Earlier on arrival at Riyadh Airbase, the Jordanian king was given a red carpet welcome by King Abdullah and top officials including Riyadh Gov. Prince Salman and Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal.
According to a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency, the Saudi-Jordan summit meeting in Riyadh was aimed at exchanging views on recent developments in the region. The Jordanian king had earlier visited Egypt.
“King Abdallah’s visits to Riyadh and Cairo come ahead of his visit to the United States this weekend where he will discuss prospects of restarting negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis and tackling other issues of the region,” SPA quoted Jordanian sources as saying.
The meeting of the two kings also comes ahead of a March 28-29 Arab summit in Riyadh when Saudi Arabia is likely to press for a radical solution to the protracted Arab-Israeli conflict.
Saudi Arabia’s Council of Ministers yesterday expressed hope that the resolutions taken by the Middle East Quartet at their Berlin meeting last week would lead to the lifting of an embargo on the Hamas-led Palestinian unity government and its legitimate institutions.
The Cabinet commended the Quartet for expressing its readiness to help the Palestinians.
Referring to the meeting of OIC foreign ministers in Islamabad on Sunday, the Cabinet noted the efforts being made by the Organization of the Islamic Conference to preserve the historical nature of Jerusalem. The Cabinet condemned Israeli designs on Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Culture and Information Minister Iyad Madani said the Cabinet approved the board of directors of Jeddah Development & Construction Co. under the chairmanship of Jeddah Mayor Adel Faqeeh for three years. The board members are: Sami Barhameen from the Makkah governorate, Abdul Aziz Al-Ghamdi of the Finance Ministry, Riyad Najm of the Culture and Information Ministry, Hassan Oqail of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and Abdul Rahman Al-Dahmesh of the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs.
