Ahead of the ministerial meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council with the participation of Egypt, Iraq and Jordan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Faisal Al-Miqdad and the accompanying delegation arrived yesterday in the Saudi city of Jeddah on a working visit at the invitation of his Saudi counterpart Faisal bin Farhan, in order to hold discussions on bilateral relations between the two brotherly countries and issues. Of common interest, at a time when Syria announced the reopening of its embassy in Tunisia and the appointment of an ambassador at its head.
And SANA reported that upon Al-Miqdad’s arrival at Jeddah airport, he was received by Saudi Deputy Foreign Minister Walid Al-Khuraiji, and a number of officials in the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Al-Miqdad is accompanied on his visit by Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Soussan, and Director of the Executive Support Department Jamal Najeeb and Yazan al-Hakim from the minister’s office.
In turn, the Saudi Press Agency, “SPA”, stated that Al-Khereiji welcomed Al-Miqdad, who is visiting Saudi Arabia “within the framework of an invitation from Ibn Farhan, to hold a discussion session dealing with efforts to reach a political solution to the Syrian crisis that preserves Syria’s unity, security and stability, and facilitates the return of Syrian refugees to their homeland, and ensuring the delivery of humanitarian aid to the affected areas in Syria.
Al-Miqdad’s visit comes a day following the Gulf Cooperation Council called for a meeting to discuss the possibility of Syria’s return to the Arab League, according to Gulf media sources.
The sources indicated that the meeting is scheduled to take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, tomorrow, Friday, with the participation of the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Egypt, Jordan and Iraq.
Earlier, the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Jarida quoted “high-ranking” diplomatic sources as saying that Kuwait will support the decision taken by the League of Arab States regarding Syria’s return to its seat in the League.
On the eighth of last March, Ibn Farhan told reporters in London: The consensus is growing in the Arab world that “isolating Syria does not work and that dialogue with Damascus is necessary, especially to address the humanitarian situation there.”
Ibn Farhan added: “Dialogue is necessary and this may eventually lead to Syria’s return to the Arab League and so on, but at the present time I think it is too early to discuss this matter.”
Last February, Ibn Farhan confirmed during the Munich Security Conference in Germany that a consensus began to form in the Arab world that there is no point in isolating Syria, and that dialogue with Damascus is required at some point. Gulf cooperation, but in the Arab world, although the status quo is unsustainable.
The decision to suspend Syria’s membership in the Arab League, which was taken at an emergency meeting held by Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on the twelfth of November 2011, was not issued unanimously. Rather, 18 countries voted on it. Lebanon, Yemen and Algeria rejected it, and Iraq abstained from voting.
In a related context, “SPA” stated that Ibn Farhan received a phone call from the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Syria, who are not studying, during which they discussed ways to find a political solution to the crisis in Syria and the efforts made by the UN envoy in this regard.
During the call, Ibn Farhan affirmed the Kingdom’s keenness to make every effort to reach a political solution to the Syrian crisis that preserves Syria’s unity, security, stability and Arab affiliation, and achieves goodness and development for its brotherly people, according to SPA.
On a parallel line, Syria and Tunisia announced in a joint statement yesterday that in response to Tunisian President Kais Saied’s initiative to appoint an ambassador for his country in Damascus, Syria decided to reopen its embassy in Tunisia and appoint an ambassador at its head.
The statement, according to SANA, said: “In response to the initiative of the President of the Republic of Tunisia, Qais Saeed, to appoint an ambassador to the Syrian Arab Republic, the Syrian government announced its immediate approval of this appointment, and decided to reopen the Syrian embassy in Tunisia, and to appoint an ambassador at its head in the next few years.” .
The statement added: In the interest of both sides to restore the Syrian-Tunisian relations to their normal course, consultations and coordination between the foreign ministers of the two countries continue to consecrate the long-standing fraternal ties that unite Syria and Tunisia, and uphold the values of solidarity and synergy between them, and for the good and interest of their two brotherly peoples.
Earlier, Al-Watan learned from Arab diplomatic sources that Al-Miqdad will start an Arab tour next week that will lead him to Algeria and Tunisia.
The Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had previously assigned Muhammad al-Mahdhabi as ambassador to his country in Syria, and sent his credentials to Damascus, where the official announcement of his appointment is expected to take place within the next few days.
On the third of this month, Tunisian President Kais Saied directed Minister of Foreign Affairs, Immigration and Tunisians Abroad, Nabil Ammar, to initiate procedures for appointing an ambassador for his country in Syria.
The official page of the Tunisian presidency quoted President Said at the time as confirming, during his meeting with Ammar, the need to adhere to the principles of foreign policy for Tunisian diplomacy, the most important of which is not to get involved in any axis and the independence of the national decision, stressing that Tunisia’s positions abroad stem from the will of its people at home.
The Tunisian presidency said, “The President of the Republic has instructed to initiate the procedures for appointing the Tunisian ambassador to Damascus.”
The Tunisian president had considered that there was no justification for not exchanging the appointment of ambassadors between Tunisia and Syria, and he said: “There is an issue that must be decided upon, and it is related to diplomatic representation with Syria. There is no justification for the absence of an ambassador of Tunisia in the Syrian Arab Republic and a Syrian ambassador in Tunisia. The issue of the regime in Syria concerns the Syrians alone, and we are dealing with the Syrian state. As for the choices of the Syrian people, we have absolutely nothing to do with it.
