FM: Saudi Arabia stresses more pan-Arab cooperation ahead of summit

MANAMA, Saudi Arabia is committed towards to plans aiming to ratchet up cooperation across the wider Arab region, the Gulf Arab kingdom's Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan said on Tuesday, citing the necessity of the move amid existential challenges. This is in line with Riyadh's firm belief in "protecting the rights of the Arab people," subsequently enhancing the principles of peace, security and development, the Saudi top diplomat told his counterparts from the Cairo-based Arab League in a preparatory meeting ahead of a key summit in the Bahraini capital on Thursday. Ever since Israeli occupation forces stepped up their "barbaric attacks" against the Palestinian people, Riyadh was quick to act in shoring up global support of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip in a bid to prevent the conflict from exacerbating, he said, castigating Israel for its "continued breaches" of international laws and convention. Riyadh remains "firmly committed" to a rigid ceasefire in the Gaza Strip that would allow for the d elivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians there, while the kingdom now sees the path towards a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on 1967 borders as "irreversible," he added. On the worsening humanitarian situation in Sudan, the Saudi foreign minister called for dialogue to push for a political solution to the conflict in the African nation, one that should be "Sudan-led" and fulfilling the aspirations of the Sudanese people. The Saudi foreign minister went on to call for restraint in a number of Arab nations mired in unrest, namely, Syria, Lebanon and Libya, urging cooler heads to prevail in a bid to prevent a slip into upheaval, he added. Foreign ministers from member countries of the Cairo-based bloc, including Kuwait's Abdullah Al-Yahya, are meeting in a prelude to the Arab Summit in Manama on Thursday. Source: Kuwait News Agency