Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman with French President Francois Hollande and GCC leaders (from right to left) Sheikh Muhammad Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Vice President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai; King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa of Bahrain; Sayyid Shihab Bin Tariq Al-Said, representative of Sultan Qaboos of Oman (5th from right); Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of Qatar; Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait; and GCC Secretary General Abdullatif Al-Zayani in Riyadh on Tuesday. — SPA Saudi Gazette report
RIYADH — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman on Tuesday called for safeguarding the Arab region from the greed of external forces that strive to expand their influence and hegemony by undermining the region's security and stability. Presiding over the 15th Consultative Summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) at Diriyah Palace here, the King warned that these forces were trying to create sectarian sedition by facilitating extremism and terrorism. “Our meeting today is taking place at a time when the region is facing stiff challenges which warrant the doubling of our efforts to protect our nations and peoples,” he said. “The efforts to develop and possess weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, pose an extremely dangerous threat not only to the region's peace and security but also to global peace and security. Hence, we urge the international community, especially the P5+1, group to shoulder their responsibilities in this regard to draw up stringent regulations that guarantee security and stability in the region,” the King said. “These rules must prevent the region from sliding into an arms race,” the King added. King Salman announced the establishment of a center to coordinate humanitarian assistance for Yemen, and invited the United Nations to join in relief work for the Arab country. “We hope that the United Nations will participate effectively with the work that this center will do, including coordinating all humanitarian and relief efforts for the Yemeni people with the participation of the countries that are supporting the Gulf initiative,” he said in his speech. The King reaffirmed Saudi Arabia's and its coalition partners' commitment to support Yemen by all means possible. After King Salman's opening speech, French President Francois Hollande spoke at the summit as the first foreign head of state to speak at a GCC Summit since the bloc's inception. Hollande reaffirmed to GCC member states that they have a “strong and reliable ally in France and that the threats to GCC states are the same as those to Paris.” He said that France was working to help the moderate Syrian opposition turn the tide of the deadly conflict in Syria. During a press conference after the GCC summit, Hollande said the security of the Arab world is tantamount to the world security and the dangers of terrorism threaten all countries. The French leader also said that his country is working on continuing a strategic partnership with Saudi Arabia and that his visit to the Kingdom tasks France with an important role in security in the region. Speaking about Iran, Hollande said that any deal with Tehran must impair it from developing a nuclear weapon. In a closing statement after the summit, the GCC reiterated that all states bear responsibility to restore stability to Yemen. It also said that France fully supports the Arab coalition's operations in the war-torn country. Regarding the Syrian conflict, the statement said that a political solution in Syria would answer the demand of the Syrian people and that Riyadh would hold a conference on post-Assad Syria. The statement also said that the normalization of relations between the GCC and Iran is based on principle of non-intervention in the region. The leaders of the six-nation GCC who are taking part in the summit are: King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa of Bahrain; Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Emir of Qatar; Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of Kuwait; Sheikh Muhammad Bin Rashid Al-Maktoum, Vice President of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai; and Sayyid Shihab Bin Tariq Al-Said, representative of Sultan Qaboos of Oman.
