RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Monday ruled out restoring diplomatic relations with Syria or reinstating Damascus to the Arab League without progress on a political process to end the eight-year-old war.
Riyadh will also not take part in any reconstruction efforts until stability is restored in Syria, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir said.
Saudi Arabia was committed to finding a political solution to the Syrian conflict but reopening the embassy was “related to progress on the political process, so it is still early,” Al-Jubeir told a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Asked whether Riyadh would assist in the reconstruction of Syria, Al-Jubeir said: “Reconstruction cannot happen until the war is over and there is stability and security in Syria.”
He said it was also “too early” for Syria to be reinstated to the Arab League, from which it was suspended seven years ago. The Arab League has said reinstatement would require consensus among member states.
Lavrov said: “We are helping the Syrian political parties to form a constitutional committee, but it is the Syrian people who will decide the form of their political system.”
He said challenges such as the fight against terrorism and the situations in Syria and Yemen could be resolved only through the implementation of UN resolutions.
On other issues, Al-Jubeir said he believed Canada would honor a $13 billion deal to sell armored vehicles to the Kingdom, despite a suggestion by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that Ottawa was looking for a way out of the agreement.
Trudeau’s remarks were “for domestic consumption,” Al-Jubeir said. “We see the Canadian government going ahead with the deal.”
Lavrov said Moscow hoped to contribute to the Saudi civilian nuclear energy program.
“We have pointed out that there is a Saudi nuclear program for peaceful uses,” he said.
“We hope that Russian experience and its level of expertise and the level of security provided during the construction of power stations in different parts of the world will interest Saudi Arabia.”
Al-Jubeir said the Kingdom would use atomic power to produce “peaceful energy,” and had for years been working with other nations to develop the latest technologies and safest production methods for generating nuclear energy at competitive prices.
