Saudi, Turkish officials discuss joint efforts to expand bilateral cooperation

Saudi Arabia's Deputy Foreign Minister Waleed Al-Khuraiji on April 10 welcomed his Turkish counterpart Burak Akcapar for talks on regional and international issues of common interest.

The meeting, which was attended by Türkiye’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia Fatih Ulusoy, also sought to find ways to boost cooperation between the two nations in various fields, per Arab News.

Akcapar also visited the headquarters of the General Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Riyadh where he met GCC Secretary-General Jassem Albudaiwi and Dr Abdulaziz Aluwaisheg, assistant secretary-general for political and negotiation affairs.

Albudaiwi stressed the importance of strengthening strategic dialogue between the GCC and Türkiye, as well as nurturing Gulf-Turkish relations in all fields.

The two sides also discussed prominent regional and international challenges and crises.

Albudaiwi and Akcapar highlighted areas of common interest under the framework agreement on economic and technical cooperation signed between the two sides in 2005, as well as the memorandum of understanding for the strategic dialogue signed in 2008.

Albudaiwi highlighted the decision of the GCC Ministerial Council to resume dialogue between the two sides and hold joint meetings during its 155th session.

The two sides concluded their talks by agreeing to stage more meetings between the joint technical teams that were formed under the framework of the joint action plan between the GCC and Türkiye, adopted at the third ministerial meeting of the strategic dialogue, held in Kuwait in 2010.

Albudaiwi said also that the two sides were keen to set a date for a sixth such meeting.