RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman held a phone call Tuesday with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the Saudi Press Agency said in a statement.
During the call, they discussed the work of the G20 countries, which the Kingdom is chairing this year, and the efforts made within its meetings to mitigate the effects of the coronavirus pandemic.
King Salman said he hoped the G20 would continue their efforts to face the challenges of the pandemic to help the global economy.
Johnson praised the Kingdom’s “leadership of the G20 meetings and managing the collective action to confront the consequences of the pandemic,” the statement added.
He also said that he hopes their two countries would further develop and strengthen their bilateral relations.
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman discusses G20, coronavirus with UK’s Johnson
https://arab.news/5f8he
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman discusses G20, coronavirus with UK’s Johnson
- The king hopes G20 would continue to face COVID-19 pandemic
- Johnson praises the Kingdom’s leadership of the G20 meetings
Saudi Arabia welcomes ceasefire agreement between Syrian Democratic Forces and Syria state
RIYADH: Saudi Arabia has welcomed an agreement between the Syrian state and Syrian Democratic Forces.
In a foreign ministry statement early on Monday, the Kingdom said it had welcomed an deal between Damascus and Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces that was announced by the Syrian government on Sunday.
The agreement entails merging all SDF forces into the defense and interior ministries and means that Kurdish forces will redeploy to east of the Euphrates river.
The 14-point deal would also see the immediate administrative and military handover of Deir Ezzor and Raqqa governorates.
The Syrian state would regain control of all border crossings, oil fields, and gas fields in the region, with protection secured by regular forces to ensure the return of resources to the Syrian government, while considering the special case of Kurdish areas, the state news agency SANA reported.
The ceasefire comes after intense fighting between the SDF and government troops in Aleppo. But SDF troops have now pulled back from there and the Syrian army now controls most areas east of Aleppo.
The Saudi foreign ministry statement also thanked the US for the agreement. Washington is believed to have supported brokering the ceasefire between allies SDF and the Syrian government, who they have also backed diplomatically since the fall of long-time dictator Bashar Assad.
The Syrian state announced on Friday a raft of new directives to recognize Syrian Kurds, including making their language official and bolstering other rights for the minority group.
