All eyes on 9-nation meet to be held in Saudi city of Jeddah on Friday
Faisal Mekdad (L) meets Prince Faisal Bin Farhan in Jeddah. Reuters
Saudi Arabia was preparing on Thursday to host an Arab regional meeting on ending Syria’s isolation at a time of dizzying diplomatic shifts following its deal to resume relations with Iran.
On Friday, ministers and top officials from the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries - Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - along with Egypt, Iraq and Jordan will meet in Jeddah. On the table is Syria’s suspension from the Arab League.
Friday’s nine-nation talks in Jeddah, the Red Sea gateway to Makkah, come after Syria’s foreign minister arrived on a previously unannounced visit - the first since the outbreak of the country’s civil war in 2011.
Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad and his Saudi counterpart have discussed “the necessary steps” to end Damascus’s isolation, according to a Saudi statement on Wednesday.
“The meeting aims to overcome the Gulf differences over Syria as much as possible,” the diplomat said.
“I will not say taking a unified position because this will not happen, but the Saudis are trying at least to ensure that Qatar does not object to Syria’s return to the Arab League if the issue is put to any vote,” the diplomat added. It was possible that Foreign Minister Mekdad would attend the meeting “to present the Syrian point of view,” another diplomat said.
Saudi state media said Mekdad was received by the kingdom’s Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed Al Khuraiji. The meeting focused on the steps needed to reach a “comprehensive political settlement of the Syrian crisis that would ... achieve national reconciliation, and contribute to the return of Syria to its Arab fold,” the joint statement said.
The Syrian and Saudi officials also discussed “enhancing security” and ‘’cooperation in combating drug smuggling and trafficking,” according to the statement. It was one in a flurry of events that were nearly unthinkable before Saudi Arabia and Iran’s landmark, Chinese-brokered announcement on March 10 that they would resume ties.
On Wednesday, an Iranian delegation landed in Saudi Arabia to pave the way for reopening diplomatic missions, following a trip by a Saudi team in the opposite direction.
An Iranian delegation arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday to pave the way for the reopening of the Iranian embassy and consulate, following a similar visit to Tehran by Saudi delegation. The move was made following a Chinese-brokered agreement last month, according to the official IRNA news agency.
“The Iranian delegation arrived in Riyadh on Wednesday to visit and reopen the embassy and consulate in line with the recent agreement between the two countries,” the agency said. The heavy gates of the Iranian embassy’s compound were open in Riyadh with a team inspecting its premises.
A white truck was seen arriving at the gate. The diplomatic mission opened hours after the Iranian foreign ministry said a technical delegation arrived in the kingdom.
The Iranian visit comes after the visit of a similar Saudi delegation to Tehran on Saturday, to discuss mechanisms for reopening the Kingdom’s representations in Iran, and after the meeting of the foreign ministers of the two countries last Thursday in Beijing.
Agencies
