JEDDAH: Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah will begin a four-nation Arab unity tour on Wednesday, which will take him to Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. He will discuss major issues including Palestine, Iran and Iraq with the leaders of the four countries.
The office of the Egyptian president has announced that King Abdullah will meet President Hosni Mubarak in the resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh on Wednesday, adding that the two leaders would discuss major regional and international issues, especially Middle East peace.
According to high-level sources, reconciliation between Cairo and Damascus would figure high during the Saudi-Egyptian talks. At the Kuwait summit in 2009, King Abdullah urged Arab leaders to set aside their differences and open a new era of unity.
On Thursday, the king will be in Damascus for talks with Bashar Assad on strengthening Arab unity to confront regional threats. Political analysts believe the Damascus talks will focus on the situation in Iraq, Iran's nuclear program and Syrian-Lebanese ties.
King Abdullah visited Syria on Oct. 8, 2009 opening a new era in Saudi-Syrian relations. President Assad reciprocated by visiting Riyadh on Jan. 14, 2010.
Beirut will be the king’s next stop where he will meet President Michel Suleiman and Prime Minister Saad Hariri before leaving for Amman.
The Arab League welcomed the royal visit and expressed its confidence that it would contribute to improving inter-Arab relations. "It's an important move toward strengthening Arab solidarity and Arab joint interests," said Ahmed Bin Hali, deputy secretary-general of the 23-member organization.
King Abdullah began his current foreign tour on June 19 when he left Jeddah for Casablanca in Morocco on his way to Canada to attend a G20 summit in Toronto. Saudi Arabia is the only Arab member of the G20. He later arrived in Washington on June 29 for talks with President Barack Obama on major regional and international issues, including the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Arab News
