The talks covered a range of international issues with added emphasis on stability in Bosnia, bilateral ties and the need to boost Saudi investment in that country. During his one-day visit to Riyadh, Silajdzic was received by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Crown Prince Sultan, deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, at Al-Yamamah Palace.
Yekaterina Mayering-Mikadze, who presented a copy of her credentials to Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal, is the current Georgian ambassador to Kuwait. She also represents her country in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, Bahrain and the UAE.
The GCC foreign ministers, meeting in Riyadh, also condemned Tel Aviv for the deliberate inclusion of several Islamic monuments, including Al-Ibrahim Mosque in Al-Khalil, (Hebron) and Bilal Mosque in Bethlehem, among its Jewish heritage and culture sites.
“The two law firms have endorsed an agreement that will enable them to cooperate and offer a broad range of legal services to clients in this country and abroad,” Konstantin Mettenheimer, Freshfields’ senior partner, said on Wednesday. “This association will prove beneficial to clients of both firms, and will strengthen our law team and our practice on all fronts,” said Mettenheimer, who is currently visiting Saudi Arabia.
Muneer Ahmed M. Yunus, a spokesman of the Jeddah-based International Bunkering Co., which owns and operates the tanker, said the company “lost communication with the vessel on Monday.”
Meanwhile, several major agreements to finance mainly infrastructure projects worth about SR2.5 billion in a staggered schedule were signed by the Kingdom during a Saudi-Yemeni Coordination Council meeting. The meeting, which was organized alongside the donors’ conference, was chaired by Crown Prince Sultan, deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation.
Participants at an international workshop on terrorism and terror funding have emphasized the need of legislation to curb the problem.
“The Kingdom is in the process of creating chairs for scientific research on terrorism in almost all universities across the country,” said Abdul Mohsen Al-Munif, a BIP counselor. Al-Munif said that Saudi Arabia has boosted its counterterrorism efforts by introducing a number of measures, including the dispersing of religious discourse on terrorism (religious edicts) through television channels, newspapers and other media, including mosques. These fatwas, he said, call on people to refrain from insane violence, acts of terror, organized crime and financing terrorist operations, which are strongly prohibited in Islam.
“Regular raids by police are aimed at detaining illegal workers and curbing crime in the capital city,” said local resident Alamgir Hussain. Eyewitnesses said that Asian expatriates, mainly from Bangladesh, Yemen, Nepal, Philippines, Pakistan, India and some African countries, were rounded up from Haiul Wazarat, Al-Salahiya and Batha districts of the city during the raids.
Ahmed Zaid Salim Zuhair, who had been in custody at the infamous American prison for the last seven years without trial for his alleged involvement in terror acts including the killing of an American in Bosnia, was extradited to the Kingdom in June last year. The 45-year-old had to be force-fed after he started a hunger strike in 2005 to protest against his captivity and conditions.