Arab League secretary general Ahmed Aboul Gheit travelled to Saudi Arabia on Monday and met with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud to discuss needed efforts to unify the Arab world.
According to a press release issued by the Arab League, the spokesperson of the organisation said that Aboul Gheit and Salman discussed the ongoing issues in the region, the role of the Arab League in unifying the Arab world, and the challenges currently facing the league.
The spokesperson added that Aboul Gheit was keen to know Saudi Arabia’s vision and its assessment of the current situation in the region, and any suggestions as to what the league can do to confront these challenges. Salman expressed his full cooperation with Aboul Gheit and his activities since he took office as secretary general.
In related news, the press office of the Saudi Embassy in Egypt issued a press release denying a few media reports about the alleged visit of a high-level Saudi delegation to Egypt to discuss bilateral relations between the two countries.
The Saudi ambassador demanded that the media report accurately and communicate with the press office in the embassy to confirm the news.
Bilateral relations between Egypt and Saudi Arabia have been notably strained after Egypt voted in favour of Russia’s draft peace resolution for Syria in the United Nations (UN) security council. Saudi Arabia’s envoy to the UN said that Egypt’s vote was “painful”.
Russia is supporting Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad while Saudi Arabia is supporting the opposition in Syria. Although Egypt has shown no specific support to any of them and adheres to its peace talks suggestions, it has shown implicit support to Russia in its war on the Syrian opposition.
The tension in Egyptian-Saudi relations significantly mounted when former secretary general of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Eyad Madany, who is Saudi, mocked Al-Sisi in his opening speech in a conference held in Tunisia. Despite apologising, Madany resigned few days after the incident over alleged “health reasons”.
