June 2, 2006

THE CUSTODIAN OF THE TWO HOLY MOSQUES RECEIVES A MESSAGE FROM THE RUSSIAN PRESIDENT. CROWN PRINCE SULTAN IBN ABDUL AZIZ REVIEWS THE REGIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS WITH THE RUSSIAN FOREIGN MINISTER. SAUDI-RUSSIAN SUPPORT TO THE MIDDLE EAST PEACE PROCESS. PRESIDENT BUSH AND PRINCE SAUD AL-FAISAL REVIEW THE FIGHT AGAINST TERRORISM AND ENERGY ISSUES. PRINCE SAUD AL FAISAL: THE SAUDI -U.S. STRATEGIC DIALOGUE REFLECTS THE MATURITY OF THE RELATIONS BETWEEN THE TWO COUNTRIES AND THEIR ABILITIES TO CONDUCT AN OPEN DIALOGUE WITH NO RESTRICTIONS, AND EACH COUNTRY IS CONSIDERATE OF THE OTHER AND SENSITIVE TO THE ISSUES THAT FACE THE OTHER. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz received a message from Russian President Vladimir Putin. The message was delivered to the King by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov during an audience. Also during the audience, the minister conveyed greetings of the Russian President to the King who in turn sent his greetings to the President. Regional and international developments were also discussed during the audience which was attended by Prince Saud Al Faisal, the Foreign Minister, other princes and officials. Crown Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General received at Al-Yamamah Palace the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and the accompanying delegation. During the audience, the minister conveyed the greetings of the Russian President to the Crown Prince who in turn sent his greetings to the president. Regional and international developments topped by the situations in the Palestinian territories and Iraq were discussed. They also reviewed aspects of cooperation between the two countries and ways of their enhancement in all fields. The audience was attended by Prince Saud Al Faisal, the foreign minister and a number of officials. Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov held a session of talks. During the talks, they discussed bilateral relations between the two countries and ways of their enhancement. Regional and international developments topped by the situations in Iraq and Palestine were also reviewed. Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the foreign minister and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov held a joint press conference. At the outset of the conference, Prince Saud said that the two sides agreed on the importance of developing and enhancing relations between the two countries particularly in the promotion of mutual investment opportunities. Prince Saud added that they discussed regional and international issues of concern to the two countries topped by the Middle East issue, the situations in Iraq and making the area free from mass destruction weapons. The Prince noted that the two sides agreed on the importance of advancing the peace process in the Middle East. He indicated that the kingdom participated in the meeting held by the quartet committee in New York on the 9th of May, adding that the kingdom expressed its appreciation of the committee for its decision to resume aid to the Palestinian people through appropriate channels. He congratulated the Iraqi people on forming a new government, hoping that the government halts violence acts, achieves Iraq's security, stability and national unity among all its classes and religious and ethnic strata. Prince Saud commended Russia and its initiative aiming to seek diplomatic solutions to make the Middle East and Arab Gulf free from mass destruction weapons particularly the nuclear weapons. Prince Saud expressed the kingdom's support for these efforts and emphasized the importance of their continuation as a solution to achieve this objective. He also stressed that any effort to disarm the area of mass destruction weapons should not exclude Israel. The Prince pointed to the effective participation of Russia in counter-terrorism international conference held in Riyadh last year. the conference issued a number of important recommendations to enhance international efforts in combating this scourge including the setting up of a counter-terrorism international center, he said and emphasized the importance of activating this proposal to strengthen and support international efforts through the united nations and its specialized organizations. Following are the remarks of Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov to the media following his talks with Prince Saud Al-Faisal. Foreign Minister Lavrov: First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to the Saudi friends for the hospitality and attention accorded to our delegation. This is my first visit to the Persian Gulf region. It's no coincidence that the first country has become Saudi Arabia - an influential regional power and a long-standing friend of Russia. I was received by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques His Majesty King Abdallah of Saudi Arabia and conveyed a personal message from Russian President Vladimir Putin to him. It gives an appraisal of the efforts that have been undertaken in development of the accords reached between the two leaders at the end of the visit in September 2003 of King Abdullah to Russia. During the reception with the King and talks with First Deputy Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, Minister of Defense and Aviation Crown Prince Sultan, my counterpart, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia Prince Saud Al-Faisal, and Secretary General of the National Security Council of Saudi Arabia Prince Bandar we stated that, in the slightly less than three years since the previous summit, substantial progress had been achieved in the development of bilateral relations in all fields. Such results are due to the fact that the two states' leaders regularly check how their decisions are being carried out. In their permanent dialogue they through telephone conversations and the exchange of messages compare notes on the bilateral agenda and our actions in international affairs. We noted the marked growth of trade and the development of cooperation in the oil and gas industry in line with the existing agreements. Russian companies are working in Saudi Arabia: Lukoil, Stroitransgaz. Our other operators have interesting offers which are being considered by the Saudi partners, not only in the oil and gas field, but also in the spheres of electric power generation and railway transport. We count on a productive talk between the representatives of the business circles of Russia and the KSA. As to their state and government support, it is first and foremost our task to develop the juridical base, improve the investment regime for the economic operators of each other, and deal with tax issues. We want to establish a direct air link and I hope that this will occur soon, especially given that El Riyadh and Moscow are keen on encouraging tourist exchanges, in addition to the growing number of Russian pilgrims annually performing Hajj. Besides, we have inter-governmentally agreed to vigorously assist the mechanism of the bilateral commission, which is working on the basis of the agreements of the President of Russia and His Majesty King. It has set up sectoral mechanisms. We will use them maximally. The business circles themselves are actively cooperating within the framework of the Russian-Arab Business Council. There is the Russian-Saudi group in it. They meet twice a year, that is more often than the Intergovernmental Commission does. In February a meeting took place in El Riyadh. We are grateful to His Majesty King Abdullah for his receiving the participants of this meeting. The next session of the Russian-Arab Council involving the Saudi friends will now be held in September this year in St. Petersburg. There are the cooperation mechanisms in the humanitarian field, between the Academies of Sciences and in the sporting field. I have learned with enthusiasm that a Program of Exchanges in the Field of Sports is to be signed in the near future. My colleague has already told you about our joint steps to enhance the effectiveness of international efforts in the fight against international terrorism. There is an agreement to set up a bilateral working group in which the representatives of the Foreign Ministries and the appropriate law enforcement structures will participate. This group will soon hold its first meeting. We have much in common to advance the dialogue of civilizations. As to international questions, Prince Saud has mentioned the main topics we discussed. I want to stress in addition to what he said that we have with Saudi Arabia a common vision of the mainlines of settlement of the problems of the region. Necessarily, there has to be a comprehensive approach here. The key to many problems, not only in the Middle East but also in inter-civilization relations, is the earliest possible reversal of the negative tendencies in Palestinian-Israeli relations. It is necessary to avoid a departure from the existing agreements and the decisions of the UN Security Council and of the Quartet of international mediators. It is important to prevent a situation where the settlement would turn out to be in jeopardy and would be replaced by unilateral decisions. It is necessary to create conditions for the resumption of direct talks between Israel and the Palestinians and prevent them from collapsing and the ground for talks from turning out to be undermined. In this sense we agree with our Saudi friends that the Palestinians should be encouraged to act unitedly, so that there may be no discord there, let alone an outbreak of civil war, so that all Palestinian political forces - the government and other political groups - may become aware of their responsibility to their own people for the attainment of the perennial dream of the Palestinians, supported by the world community, that of establishing a Palestinian State which will coexist side by side with Israel in peace and security. On Iraq we, like Saudi Arabia, welcome the announcement of the formation of a new government. We consider that the opportunity has come now to resume the inter-Iraqi dialogue, which in the autumn of last year was organized at the initiative and under the aegis of the LAS. We are convinced that, without such an inter-Iraqi dialogue, a stable development of the political process won't be possible to achieve. In our turn, we are ready to help this forward in every way, to support the efforts of the LAS and all of Iraq's neighbors by all the political methods at our disposal, first of all, through the capabilities of the United Nations and its Security Council. Regarding the problem of the Iranian nuclear program, we are convinced of the necessity not to allow the nuclear non-proliferation regime to be violated and to work for the aim set exclusively by peaceful means. In this regard, we share the position of our Saudi friends, who consider it necessary not to be obsessed by procedural aspects in the examination of the entire fullness of the problems connected with the Iranian nuclear program, but to look at this situation strategically, proceeding from a strategic aim, to prevent a violation of the non-proliferation regime, but to do it so as to truly ensure the lawful interests of all the countries which, one way or another, are associated with the talks on the matter and, of course, the lawful interests of the entire world community. We have agreed to continue our dialogue on this theme. We count on its being able to enrich the discussions being conducted on Iran. Question: What questions are you going to discuss in your talks in Kuwait? Foreign Minister Lavrov: I can say that we will be discussing bilateral relations. They are evolving quite intensively. By and large we are satisfied that with all the Gulf countries our ties are on the rise. Secondly, the regional agenda, what we talked about here in Riyadh today: the questions of Middle East settlement, the situation around Iraq, the Iranian nuclear program - this all concerns the Gulf countries, which are united in the Gulf Cooperation Council. All of this affects directly their national interests and daily life. Russia as a participant of the international efforts to settle the various problems of the region is ready and will coordinate its moves with these countries. Question: Do common points exist between the Russians and Americans on the Iranian nuclear program? Foreign Minister Lavrov: On most of the problems which now concern the region, our ultimate tasks and those of the US, strategically and in the long term, coincide, I believe. They are the stability of the region, the prevention of the use of this key area of the world for undermining the situation here, for nourishing extremist tendencies and, accordingly, for building up terrorist activities, and the prevention of the use of these conflicts for a split which would bear an inter-civilization character. It is my belief that all these aims in the foreign policies of Russia and the United States objectively, in a long term perspective coincide. What's most important - they coincide with the interests of the region's countries themselves. We are interested in seeing the region evolve dynamically and steadily. Russia holds that to achieve these results is only possible on the basis of full consideration of the approaches which are being worked out in the countries of the region themselves. In this sense my talks today in Saudi Arabia were extremely useful because I heard very thoughtful interlocutors who are well versed in the nuances of the various problems of the Middle East and of the Persian Gulf and have an enormous experience and ability to state their point of view diplomatically, avoid abrupt movements and try to always be guided not by a specific aspect of the nearest political conjuncture, but by the strategic, long-term interests of their people and the peoples of the entire region. In this regard, our agreement to carry on the dialogue exactly in the context of a strategic vision of the development of the problems around Iran's nuclear program or other problems of this region presents a substantial and practical interest for Russian diplomacy. We are grateful to our partners for that. Question: What sanctions could Russia support against Iran? Foreign Minister Lavrov: I can't recall a single case in contemporary history when the sanctions would have reached the aim which their initiators had set for themselves. Question: Of late requests have been coming in to Russia from Syria to lend assistance in Lebanese affairs. Your commentaries? Foreign Minister Lavrov: I don't know about such requests. I can only say that in respect of Syrian-Lebanese affairs we maintain continuous contact with Damascus and Beirut. We are meeting with the leaders of these countries, with ministers, with government members and with parliamentarians. We urge both parties to tackle the issues in bilateral relations directly, through dialogue and cooperation. I do not think that they need mediators. There are between Syria and Lebanon the old, long-standing traditions of joint existence and interaction. There took place in these traditions moments, which probably, were not always positive. But now relations between Syria and Lebanon are getting rid of these negative moments. We welcome this. We believe that the progress is evident. We urge both countries to move towards the settlement of the problems remaining between them, including the questions of the exchange of embassies and those of the settlement of all border problems. This is a bilateral affair of theirs. A mediator is unlikely to be needed here. I think the Syrians and the Lebanese alike know how to approach these matters. We, I repeat, are interested that this occurs as soon as possible. In Washington, U.S. President George W. Bush received at the White House Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal. Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the Saudi Ambassador to the U.S., attended the meeting: "President Bush discussed with Prince Saud Al-Faisal a number of issues of mutual concern to the two countries, including counter-terrorism, military affairs and energy and discussed regional and international topics," White House Spokesman Tony Snow told reporters of the president's meeting with Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal. They also discussed the progress reached at the second round of the Saudi U.S. joint committee for strategic dialogue, he concluded. U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney received at the White House Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal. Jennie Mayfield, a spokesman for the Vice President's office, told SPA that Cheney and Prince Saud Al-Faisal discussed issues of mutual concern. Prince Turki Al-Faisal, the Saudi Ambassador to the United States, attended the meeting. Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister, said following a meeting with US President George W. Bush, that he had reviewed with him the problems of Iraq and Iran and other issues of mutual interest. "I am absolutely convinced that President Bush is doing his best to bring stability and security in the Middle East region," said Prince Saud in a statement to the press at the White House in Washington. Delegates of the Saudi -U.S. Committee on Strategic Dialogue started its meetings in Washington, co-chaired by Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Saudi Foreign Minister, and Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. Secretary of State. The committee dealt with aspects of strategic cooperation between the two friendly countries in the political, economic, military, security, cultural, social and scientific fields according to the guidelines of its first meeting in Jeddah last year. The committee was formed during the Crawford summit between the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz and U.S. President George W. Bush on the 25th of April 2005 aiming at enhancing the current mechanisms of coordination and dialogue between the two countries and establish new mechanisms according to the nature and tools of the issues on the agenda dealing with the current cooperaion relations between the two countries and at the regional and international arenas. Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held a joint press conference following Saudi-U.S. Strategic Dialogue Committee's meetings in Washington. At the outset of the conference, Prince Saud said, " First of all, my thanks to you and your colleagues for the welcome that we have had here. The discussions have been, as you have heard from the secretary, wide-ranging. As a matter of fact, in the meeting we mentioned that maybe it's better to talk about things that we didn't talk about, that it would make a shorter list than the things that we talked about. It is a reflection of the maturity, I think, of the relations between the two countries that they can have an open dialogue with no restrictions, no holds barred, and each country is considerate of the other and sensitive to the issues that face the other. We work for peace. We do not work against or plan against anybody. And so the work that we do is to the benefit of the international community as well as to the benefit of the people of our two countries. We discussed many issues, as the secretary has told you. And I'm pleasantly surprised though some of the subcommittees met only a very short time ago, already we have some concrete results that they have agreed to, and that hopefully they will start working at implementing them in the future. We talked about the development in Saudi Arabia and about the activities that the kingdom is undertaking to establish its process of reform. We indicated that these reforms are indigenous, they emerge from the dialogue that is happening between Saudis in Saudi Arabia; the measures that are undertaken are undertaken cumulatively and emerging from these dialogues to reflect the interest and the wishes of the Saudi people. Aside from that, we talked about the Middle East. She carried a great deal of the conversation between us.'' On her part, the U.S. secretary of state said,'' I'd like to welcome His Royal Highness Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia. We have just had extensive discussions. First of all, we had some time together to discuss regional issues of interest, and global issues of interest; how to consider the prospects for peace in the Middle East; how to convince Iran to follow the international consensus that there should be a negotiated and diplomatic solution to the problem in which Iran and the international community now finds itself. We discussed the coming of a new government in Iraq and our desire to support stability and peace in Iraq, and a unity government that can serve all Iraqis. We had a chance to talk about Lebanon and about the need to fully implement the resolutions on the sovereignty of Lebanon that have been passed by the U.N. Security Council. The principal purpose, however, of this meeting was to have our second session of the Strategic Dialogue, a dialogue that was chartered by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and U.S. President George W. Bush when they were in Crawford on April 25th, 2005. We had the first meeting of this dialogue in Riyadh, and this was the second meeting of the dialogue. The dialogue is broken into several working groups that look for concrete progress on issues of interest and concern to us. We have a Working Group on Counterterrorism, which obviously discussed both the challenges that we face in counterterrorism and the opportunities to cooperate in matters of intelligence, law enforcement, and training in counterterrorism. We have a Working Group on Human Development that talks about the possibilities and opportunities for exchange of Saudi and American citizens from universities, from the business communities, from, indeed, a civil society. We have a Working Group on Consular Affairs dealing with issues of great concern to our citizens. We have an Energy Working Group, which obviously everybody is very interested in these days. And I think it's a shared view that very high energy prices are not a good thing for the international economy and for growth, and that the answer, however, is to try and provide a stable supply over time. And we welcome the efforts that Saudi Arabia is making to increase its production in the medium term, and to invest in its energy infrastructure. And finally, we have a working group on our military-to-military relationship, our strategic relationship, that goes back a very long way. I think you can see from the broad range of issues that we deal with that this is a relationship that is both deep and broad, a relationship that goes back decades, and a relationship that is critically important not just to the peace and security of the region, but to the peace and security of the world." Then Prince Saud Al-Faisal and Rice replied to reporters' questions. On a question whether there should be direct talks between the United States of America and Iran or they should be within a group of countries such as Russia and China, Prince Saud said," I wouldn't presume to talk for either country. It is up to both countries to decide what is in the best interest. What we do hope is -- what we have anxiety about is the stability and security of our region, and definitely the spread of atomic weapons or the threat of spread of atomic weapons in the region is a threat to the countries of the region. And therefore, we hope that all the countries of the region will ascribe to the policy of the Gulf Cooperation Council and the Arab League of having a Middle East, including the Gulf, free of atomic weapons." On the same question, the U.S. secretary of state said," The goal of the international community must be to achieve an outcome to Iran's problem by diplomatic means, and we are committed to that diplomacy. The United States has been committed to the negotiations that have been going on now for the better part of a year. We have been supporting those negotiations actively, so it is not as if we are not involved in the diplomacy that is going on here. There are many ways that we can communicate our concerns, and we do so." As for mutual misunderstanding between strata of Saudi and U.S. peoples referred to by Prince Saud, Secretary Rice, stated," First of all, what we are going to do in terms of the perceptions and misperceptions of people in either countries, we really do believe that just for starters increasing contact between our populations is very important. We especially want to accelerate and promote university exchanges and exchanges of students. I have really noticed that when I go to the kingdom, I very often meet people who have been students in the United States. I think that those people have understanding of and perceptions of the United States that's different from people who have not been to the United States. And so, this is one way that we can increase understanding. And I would hope that more Americans would go to Saudi Arabia as well. So these are some of the things that we're talking about on that part.'' Responding to a question on Prince Saud's statement that shutting off aid to the Palestinians and isolation of Hamas government will radicalize the population over there, the U.S. secretary of state said," As to the Middle East peace process, look, we are both committed to the road map and to a peaceful resolution based on a two-state solution. That is the underpinning of the Arab initiative that the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz proposed two years ago and later adopted by Beirut Arab Summit. It is certainly the underpinning of President Bush's belief that a two-state solution is the only way that Israelis and Palestinians will be able to meet their aspirations. And we have a classical problem, which is that out of an election that was clearly a legitimate election, one that we support, one of the parties now does not recognize the existence of one -- of Israel. The party also has not renounced violence. And so, the goal has to be to get back on the road map, and it's very difficult to do that when one of the parties doesn't accept the existence of the other party. And so, we will continue to press for that." Asked if there is any detailed plan for increasing oil production and also to return the equilibrium and the balance to the markets, Prince Saud said, "Saudi Aramco has already published a plan about creating a balance between offer and supply in the oil markets. And this does not really affect the current situation, because there is no shortage in the supplies, but on the contrary, there is a surplus. I can tell you that there is a shortage with respect to refineries and facilities concerning consuming operations." Responding to a question if there is any plan for a visit of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah Ibn Abdul Aziz to the United States any time soon, Prince Saud said," With respect to the visit of King Abdullah to the United States, you know that there is a special and deep relationship between President Bush and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. And each one of them, when they want to see each other, they will determine the appointment, and the visit will occur." On the other hand in Washington President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair made unusual acknowledgments of error regarding Iraq last Thursday, but they also said the seating of a democratically elected government after three years of fighting should inspire the world to ensure the success of a free Iraq. Despite an assertion by the new Iraqi Prime Minister that Iraq may be able to manage its own security by the end of 2007, neither Bush nor Blair gave any indication of a time frame for the drawdown of military forces. Bush called reports that the Pentagon hopes to scale back the U.S. deployment from 135,000 troops to about 100,000 by year's end "speculation." "We want to make sure . . . we complete the mission," Bush said in a televised White House news conference. "I want our troops out. Don't get me wrong. . . . I fully understand the pressures being placed on our military and their families. But I also understand that it is vital that we . . . do the job." In an appearance in the East Room, a session devoted largely to sombre discussion of the war but also marked by banter between two leaders who communicate frequently, Bush and Blair offered candid acknowledgments about missteps made. For Bush, an admission of regrettable "tough talk" since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, was an uncharacteristically personal comment. "Saying `Bring it on'--kind of tough talk, you know, that sent the wrong signal to people," Bush said sombrely in response to a British reporter's question. "I learned some lessons about expressing myself maybe in a little more sophisticated manner. You know, `Wanted dead or alive,' that kind of talk. I think in certain parts of the world it was misinterpreted. And so I learned--I learned from that." Bush was referring to comments he had made that came to symbolize what some saw as swaggering, belligerent style: Shortly after the attacks he said he wanted Osama bin Laden "dead or alive" and on another occasion he said of the Iraqi insurgents, "Bring it on." Bush also referred to the U.S. military's abuse of inmates at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. "We've been paying for that for a long period of time," he said. Blair said that in retrospect, he may have underestimated how long it would take to establish a democracy in Iraq. "I'm afraid in the end we're always going to have to be prepared for the fall of Saddam Hussein not to be the rise of democratic Iraq, that it was going to be a more difficult process," Blair said. Blair came to Washington for talks with Bush after meeting with new Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki earlier this week.