BERLIN, 8 June — Saudi Arabia and Germany yesterday moved to deepen their ties with Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, spelling out the Kingdom’s drive for economic reform.
Crown Prince Abdullah, who arrived here Wednesday on an official visit, was received yesterday by German President Johannes Rau. The crown prince and Rau held official talks which covered bilateral relations as well as a number of international issues. The crown prince met with German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder on Wednesday.
At a reception held in his honor by Berlin Mayor Eberhard Diepgen, Prince Abdullah highlighted the plight of the Palestinians in forthright terms. Speaking extempore, he spoke of the Palestinian people, who with stones faced the heavy guns, tanks and planes of the Israelis, being forced into subjugation. “How can we equate people whose only weapons are stones with those who have tanks, guns and planes”? he asked.
“Their will and their destiny will lead them to a final victory,” the crown prince said, adding, “Even if the suppression continues for another 50 years, right will prevail.”
Prince Abdullah said: “The Palestinian people are suffering and the international community remains mute in the face of such naked aggression. They (Palestinians) are fighting for justice, equality and self-determination.”
Prince Abdullah was replying to the Berlin mayor, who had claimed that Germany had special relations with both the Israelis and the Arabs and wants a settlement to the ongoing Middle East conflict. He had earlier extolled Berlin’s role as a center of economic dynamism with the East meeting West before shifting to the Middle East crisis.
Addressing a meeting of the board of directors of the Saudi-German Businessmen’s Dialogue Council, an affiliate of the Saudi-German Joint Commission, the crown prince called on German businessmen and companies to increase the volume of investment in the Kingdom.
“Despite the fact that Germany is a major trading partner of Saudi Arabia, the size of German investment is below the required level,” he said.
However, the crown prince expressed satisfaction over the general level of relations with the country. He also said the Kingdom was committed to maintaining stable oil prices. “We have strived with other oil-producing countries to find a balance between the supply and demand of oil and stabilize prices at levels acceptable to both producers and consumers,” the crown prince said. He hoped that advanced nations would have a second look at the high taxes they impose on oil and its byproducts.
“The Kingdom has mobilized its oil wealth for the welfare of its people,” the crown prince said. “The revenue earned from oil has been spent generously on development and infrastructure projects enabling its economy, particularly the private sector, to make great strides,” he said.
Prince Abdullah requested Germany to support Saudi Arabia’s proposal to establish a permanent secretariat general for a dialogue between oil producers and consumers. The proposal was made at the 17th international energy forum recently held in Riyadh. He reiterated the Kingdom’s willingness to host the proposed organization.
German Economics Minister Werner Mueller, who attended the meeting, called the crown prince’s current visit a harbinger of a new era of close cooperation between the two countries.
Mueller stressed the role played by the Saudi-German Businessmen’s Dialogue Council in increasing cooperation between the two countries. He welcomed the establishment of the General Investment Authority in the Kingdom as part of the government’s efforts to reform economic laws. The crown prince said these efforts yielded good results for the Kingdom’s economy. As a result, “the economic growth last year stood at more than 21 percent at the current rate and 4.5 percent at the fixed rate, both considered high by international standard”, Prince Abdullah said and added he expected this improvement to continue.
Speaking at a dinner hosted by Chancellor Schroeder on Wednesday, Prince Abdullah reiterated the keenness of the Kingdom to enhance its relations with its friends, particularly Germany, in areas of trade, investment, energy, education, training and transfer of technology.
