Dubai, United Arab Emirates (CNN) – The Saudi Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, said that there is no such thing as an “Arab NATO”, stressing that his country did not participate in any consultations in this regard.
Prince Faisal bin Farhan also denied, in a press conference on the sidelines of the “Jeddah Summit for Security and Development”, Saturday, that “there was no talk of a Gulf alliance with Israel, although… Saudi Arabia did not participate in any talks.”
He said that “the (issue) of military or technical cooperation with Israel was not raised during or before the Jeddah summit.”
While he indicated that the Jeddah summit, which was attended by the leaders of the United States, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, focused on partnership with the United States.
The Saudi foreign minister made it clear that opening Saudi airspace to all air carriers, including Israel, is not a prelude to normalizing relations with Israel.
Prince Faisal bin Farhan said: “This has nothing to do with normalization with Israel. This is related to the Chicago Protocol (which is related to the crossing of airspace… This is not in any way a prelude to any additional steps” regarding relations with Israel.