RIYADH: King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies has held discussions with a delegation of top European academics and experts on foreign affairs at the institute’s development of human resources training department in Riyadh. They discussed Saudi Arabia’s regional role, Saudi-European cooperation, the security situation in the region and its implications for the stability of the countries.
The discussions started with a speech by Prince Turki bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, CEO of the King Abdullah Foundation, who welcomed the delegation and praised the historic relations between the Kingdom and Europe. He also welcomed attendees, which included European ambassadors, academics, researchers and Saudi professors of political science.
The center’s secretary-general, Saud bin Saleh Al-Sarhan, said the discussions and accompanying workshop point to the keenness of King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies to maintain ties with international academic and research institutions so as to enhance academic research in regional issues.
The European delegation included Carl Bildt, former Swedish prime minister and foreign minister; Jeremy Shapiro, research director at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) and former assistant to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton; Ellie Geranmayeh, policy fellow for the Middle East and North Africa Program at ECFR; Alexander Stubb, former Finnish prime minister and foreign minister and member of the European Parliament; Joseph Mifsud, director of the London Academy of Diplomacy; Arnaud Danjean, member of the European Parliament and chairman of the Committee on Security and Defense at ECFR; Julien Barnes-Dacey, senior policy fellow and interim head of the MENA program at ECFR; and MattiaToaldo, policy fellow at ECFR’s Middle East and North Africa program.
The discussions were also attended by several ambassadors and diplomats from European countries, including Italian Ambassador Luca Ferrari, Finnish Ambassador Pekka Voutilainen, Swedish Ambassador Jann Knutsson, Norwegian Ambassador Rolf Willy Hansen, Ambassador of Denmark Ole Frijs-Madsen, Cypriot Ambassador Nikos Panayi and first advisor at the French embassy, Eric Jerou, on behalf of the French ambassador.
Academics discuss ways to promote Saudi-European cooperation
Academics discuss ways to promote Saudi-European cooperation
Saudi Arabia launches initiative to reroute Gulf cargo to Red Sea ports
- The initiative comes as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has been severely disrupted by the widening conflict in the region
- Since the US and Israel struck Iran last month, Tehran has moved to restrict passage through the waterway
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has launched an initiative to redirect shipping from ports in the Arabian Gulf to its Red Sea ports amid the ongoing US-Israel-Iran war.
Transport Minister Saleh Al-Jasser, who also chairs the Saudi Ports Authority (Mawani), launched the Logistics Corridors Initiative alongside Zakat, Tax and Customs Authority Governor Suhail Abanmi, Mawani President Suliman Al-Mazroua, and other officials, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
The initiative will establish dedicated operational corridors to receive containers and cargo redirected from ports in the Kingdom's Eastern Region and other Gulf Cooperation Council states to Jeddah Islamic Port and other Red Sea coast ports.
Al-Jasser said the Kingdom was committed to ensuring supply-chain stability and the smooth flow of goods through global trade routes. Jeddah Islamic Port and other west coast ports, he added, were already playing a key role in accommodating shipments redirected from the east, while also linking Gulf cargo to regional and international markets.
The initiative comes as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has been severely disrupted by the widening conflict in the region. Iran has long threatened to close the strait — the world's most critical oil and gas chokepoint, through which roughly a fifth of global oil supplies pass — in the event of a war.
Since the US and Israel struck Iran last month, Tehran has moved to restrict passage through the waterway, sending freight rates soaring and forcing shipping companies to seek alternative routes.
Saudi Arabia's Red Sea ports offer a viable bypass, connecting Gulf cargo to global markets without passing through the strait.
