RIYADH, 7 March 2005 — Jordan’s King Abdallah wrapped up a brief visit to the Saudi capital yesterday evening after holding wide-ranging talks with Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd and Crown Prince Abdullah.
The talks focused on the latest developments in the Arab world after the killing of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and Saturday’s announcement of a Syrian troop pullback from Lebanon by President Bashar Assad.
“The talks between Saudi and Jordanian leaders covered the whole gamut of regional and international developments with special reference to the Syrian announcement of troop withdrawal from Lebanon,” said Arab diplomatic sources here.
Saudi Arabia and Jordan, which reaffirmed their commitment to peace and security in the region, support a Syrian troop withdrawal in compliance with the Taif Accord of 1989 and UN Security Council Resolution 1559.
The talks were attended by Interior Minister Prince Naif and Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal and, on the Jordanian side, by Premier Faisal Al-Fayez and Prince Hashim ibn Al-Hussain.
The sources said: “The Saudi and Jordanian officials also discussed the prospects of peace talks with Israel.”
A report by Deutsche Presse-Agentur quoted officials in Amman as saying that Jordan’s efforts to improve relations with Israel, the situation in Iraq and the renewal of an oil grant of 50,000 barrels a day to Jordan were high on the agenda of the talks.
Since the launching of the US-led war on Iraq in March 2003, Jordan has depended on oil grants from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.
Jordan’s Foreign Minister Hani Mulki was in Israel yesterday. Israel and Jordan agreed to cooperate on building a canal between the Red Sea and the Dead Sea in order to prevent the Dead Sea drying up, said Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres.
The project was discussed during talks in Jerusalem between Peres and Mulki, the most senior Amman official to hold talks in the Jewish state in nearly four years.
Mulki was due to meet Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon later.
On Riyadh-Amman relations, the sources said “they are cordial.”
A delegation of the Saudi Health Ministry is currently visiting Jordan to negotiate contracts with 500 Jordanian medics to work in Saudi Arabia.
Abdul Karim Sayegh, chairman of the Saudi committee tasked with negotiating the contracts, said the move seeks to replace foreign labor in Saudi Arabia with Arabs from neighboring countries.
