RIYADH, 27 October — Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said yesterday that Baghdad’s “laudable” cooperation with the United Nations over the return of arms inspectors should promote a peaceful solution to the Iraq crisis and avert a US strike.
“Iraq’s laudable cooperation over the inspectors’ return should avert a (US) strike and lead to a settlement by legitimate means on the basis of relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” he told reporters.
“We have repeatedly stressed our keenness to spare Iraq any military strike,” said Prince Saud, who was speaking after a meeting with his Syrian counterpart Faruq Al-Shara.
“We oppose military action against Iraq. It would not be logical for the Security Council to adopt a resolution authorizing the use of force against a UN member state,” said Shara, whose country is currently one of the 10 non-permanent council members.
“Iraq has agreed to readmit the inspectors. Consequently, the inspectors should be allowed to return as soon as possible and the American obstacles to their return should be eliminated,” he said.
“As Arabs, we cannot allow our territory to be used for aggression against an Arab state,” added the Syrian minister.
Earlier, Prince Saud and Shara co-chaired a meeting of the Saudi-Syrian Joint Commission to explore prospects of enhancing bilateral ties. Addressing the meeting, Prince Saud said no bargaining will be acceptable on Jerusalem.
The meeting called for canceling tariffs on the import of national products, effective from Jan. 1, 2003. The two countries have already signed a free-trade agreement. Trade between the two countries doubled last year to reach SR1.5 billion.
