RIYADH, 29 May 2003 — Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, left here yesterday for Geneva en route to the French city Evian, where he is scheduled to attend the G-8 summit on Sunday.
Prince Abdullah and Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal have been invited by French President Jacques Chirac to attend the summit and hold talks with the heads of the G-8 states as well as the leaders of other countries.
After attending the summit, Prince Abdullah, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and some other Arab leaders will attend another significant Arab-US summit in the Egyptian resort city Sharm El-Sheikh on June 4.
The Arab-US summit, which will work out strategies on how to ensure the success of the Middle East road map, will also be attended by King Muhammad of Morocco, King Hamad of Bahrain and King Abdallah of Jordan and US President George W. Bush. After the session, Bush will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmud Abbas in the Jordanian city of Aqaba on June 5 for a summit intended to speed up the implementation of the road map.
The Saudi Press Agency said the crown prince would be accompanied by a high-ranking delegation including Prince Saud and Prince Bandar ibn Sultan, Saudi ambassador to the United States.
The Saudi delegation also includes Prince Turki ibn Abdullah ibn Muhammad, Prince Abdul Aziz ibn Abdullah, and Prince Bandar ibn Salman ibn Muhammad, all advisers at the crown prince’s court.
Prince Mishaal ibn Abdullah, Prince Abdul Aziz ibn Fahd, minister of state, Prince Saud ibn Abdullah, Prince Mansour ibn Abdullah, Prince Muhammad ibn Abdullah, Dr. Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, minister of water and electricity, and Dr. Ibrahim Al-Assaf, minister of finance, are also accompanying the crown prince.
Other heads of states invited to the Evian summit include Hu Jintao of China, Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of Brazil and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
The G-8 group consists of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia and the United States.
