The Foreign Minister of the Saudi regime, Faisal bin Farhan, announced that King Salman bin Abdulaziz will soon invite a summit of leaders of countries bordering the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.
This came during a meeting of foreign ministers of Arab and African countries bordering the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, which was launched today in Riyadh, according to what was included in a video clip of the meeting carried by the official Saudi news channel.
Farhan described this meeting as “important”, indicating that today the charter establishing the Council of Arab and African States and the Gulf of Aden will be approved today, without further details on the participating countries.
He explained that “the charter will be submitted to the leaders for his blessing in a summit meeting that King Salman will call for soon,” without further details.
He added: “The Kingdom is keen to coordinate and cooperate with its sisters, the member states, to face the challenges and dangers that surround us from each side.”
Later, the official news agency (SPA) explained that King Salman received the foreign ministers participating in the meeting, and they are representatives from Egypt, Jordan, Eritrea, Yemen, Sudan, Djibouti and Somalia, in contrast to the Kingdom.
The meeting discussed “ways to develop joint cooperation between the countries bordering the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, in a manner that enhances security and stability in the region.”
King Salman blessed the founding of the Council of Arab and African States bordering the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, and the signing of the Council’s charter, without further details.
Tensions between Washington and Tehran escalated, following the announcement by the United States Department of Defense at dawn Friday, of an air strike near Baghdad International Airport, which killed the commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Qassem Soleimani, in addition to Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, deputy head of the Iraqi Popular Mobilization Authority, and others, while For its part, Tehran has announced that it will respond harshly to the assassination.
In December 2018, the Kingdom proposed the creation of a grouping of Red Sea and Horn of Africa states, in part to “prevent any outside powers from playing a negative role” in that strategic region.
The meeting was attended by representatives of Seven countries: Saudi, Egypt, Djibouti, Somalia, Sudan, Yemen and Jordan.
In March 2019, Egypt announced that a meeting would be held to evaluate international initiatives on the conditions of the “Red Sea and Gulf of Aden”, with the participation of diplomatic and military officials of the seven countries as well.
Cairo hosted the first meeting of the Arab and African states bordering the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in Cairo on December 11 and 12, 2017, with the participation of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Djibouti, Yemen, Sudan and Eritrea.