Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah held wide-ranging talks with Cheney at his ranch outside Riyadh on major regional and international issues including the situation in both Iraq and Palestine and the growing tension between Syria and Lebanon.
King Abdullah reportedly stressed “the need for giving negotiations a chance” before pressing for Iran’s referral to the UN Security Council, the Associated Press reported, quoting officials close to the talks in Riyadh.
“The talks covered the subject of Syrian-Lebanese tension and the Saudi-Egyptian efforts to ward off an escalation of the situation in the region,” the AFP news agency reported, quoting unnamed sources.
The two men agreed on “the need for Syria to cooperate with the UN probe (into the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri) in keeping with UN Security Council resolutions and on the importance of safeguarding security in the region,” a Saudi official said, requesting anonymity.
During his talks with Cheney, King Abdullah stressed the need for Washington to help the Palestinian Authority and pursue its efforts to “implement the road map and achieve the US president’s (George W. Bush) vision about the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.”
The Saudi official said King Abdullah voiced satisfaction at US efforts to “facilitate” the legislative elections in the Palestinian territories on Jan. 25.
The two leaders also reviewed “efforts and contacts under way at the Arab and local levels to ensure the success of the political process in Iraq,” the official said.
Later in the afternoon, King Abdullah hosted a banquet lunch for the US vice president, which was attended by several members of the royal family, Saudi ministers and high-ranking Saudi and US officials. Prominent among those who attended the luncheon talks were Prince Miteb, minister of municipal and rural affairs, Prince Badr, deputy commander of the National Guard, Prince Saud Al-Faisal, foreign minister, Prince Turki Al-Faisal, Saudi ambassador to the US and Prince Muqrin, chief of General Intelligence. Cheney later left Riyadh for Kuwait, to offer his condolences on the death of the country’s former ruler, Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah.