The regional director for the Near and Middle East and the Maghreb at the German Federal Foreign Office is currently on a visit to Saudi Arabia.
Boris Ruge said he visited the Kingdom to discuss Saudi-German bilateral ties and meet with German ambassadors and consuls general accredited to countries in the Gulf countries.
At a press conference Tuesday night at the residence of Ambassador Dieter Haller in Riyadh, Ruge, who has the rank of ambassador, said he had met with Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal to “push forward ties between Germany and Saudi Arabia”, which is the former’s strongest partner in the region.
Ruge said they had talked about the problem concerning Saudi issuance of visas, close cooperation, and making sure they have the same position on international and regional issues, such as their stance on Iran and Syria.
He said they had also discussed boosting economic cooperation between the two countries, which have been enjoying good trade relations. Germany is one of the Kingdom’s biggest trading partners.
In a meeting with the German ambassadors and consuls general accredited to the GCC countries, he said the importance of Saudi Arabia and the region was highlighted.
In answer to what Germany was doing with regard to the Syrian war, he said Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States would send missile batteries to Turkey.
“It sends a strong signal to Syria not to attack Turkey.” He said that if it did, NATO would attack Syria just like it did in Libya to oust the former strongman Muammar Qaddafi from power.
On Egypt, Ruge said: “We’ve invited President Muhammad Mursi to visit Berlin. We’ve also spoken to his advisers and members of his political party.”
He continued: “We’ve told him that accelerating the constitutional process is not a good idea, because it causes conflict among the Egyptian society. We saw that playing out in the streets in the past 10 days, resulting in loss to precious human life.”
He pointed out that Mursi had won the elections with a very narrow margin.
German official visits Kingdom to boost relations
