JEDDAH, 27 March 2004 — Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, is scheduled to visit Austria next week.
The crown prince takes up a long-standing invitation from Austrian President Thomas Klestil.
The three-day visit starts on March 31, reciprocating a visit from Klestil to the Kingdom in October 2001.
Prince Abdullah will meet with Klestil and Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel before attending a dinner hosted by the president, an official Austrian statement said.
Austrian Ambassador Harald Wiesner told Arab News the visit would boost relations between the two countries.
“The president will tell him that we are working on the Saudi side behind the scenes. We have a voice” in the European Union, he said, “and Saudi Arabia has a friend in the EU and an advocate of the Saudi cause,” the ambassador said.
Talks will also focus on events in the Arab world, the ambassador said on Thursday.
The ambassador, who ends his tour of the Kingdom shortly, suggested the Kingdom should go beyond “quiet diplomacy”.
“Saudi Arabia should take more initiatives. For example, if it is attacked by a media across the Atlantic, I think next day the diplomats and journalists from this country have to fire back immediately, writing letters to the editor, appearing on talk shows and defending its cause,” he said.
He said Austrians felt warmly toward Saudis.
“It is really positive. We have no problems whatsoever with Saudi citizens, whether they come as businessmen or as tourists, and I am not aware of any difficulties whatsoever,” he said.
Cordial relations between the two countries go back to the time of the Kingdom’s foundation, when Austrian Leopold Weiss converted to Islam and became a political adviser to King Abdul Aziz, he said.
