Under the chairmanship of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the leaders and heads of delegations of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for Arab States held their 15th Consultative Meeting at Diriyah Palace in Riyadh today in the presence of President Francois Hollande of the French Republic. The meeting was opened by a recitation of verses from the Holy Quran. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud delivered the following speech: In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful, Praise be to Allah and peace and blessings be upon Prophet Muhammad, his family and companions, Dear Brothers, Your Majesties and Highnesses, His Excellency Friend Francois Hollande, Dear attendees, May Allah's Peace, mercy and blessings be upon you: We are pleased to welcome you and His Excellency Mr. Francois Hollande of the friendly French Republic, who joined us today as the first guest of honor at this consultative summit to reflect the strong relations between the GCC states and France. As we appreciate France's active role in contributing to the stability of our region and its positive positions toward our regional issues, we look forward to strengthening close relations linking our countries in all fields. At the outset of this meeting, we recall the great exploits of my brother, the late Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (May Allah bestow mercy upon his soul), who was the most keen to achieve the aspirations of our peoples for upgrading the march of our joint work so that our Council shall be an invincible entity constituting a powerful umbrella for the protection of our countries' security and stability. Dear Brothers, Our meeting comes today amid difficult conditions and most precise challenges experienced by our region requiring us to redouble efforts to maintain the gains of our peoples and our countries and to face external covetousness that focus its endeavor to expand its influence and hegemony to destabilize the region's security and stability, plant sectarian strife and create a fertile environment for extremism and terrorism. The response of coalition countries came to meet an appeal of the legitimate authority in Yemen in self-defense following the coup leaders' refusal of all efforts of the Gulf Cooperation Council and international community aiming to spare the dear Yemeni people from sliding toward chaos and infighting. Following achieving goals of the Operation Determination Storm, we look forward that the Operation Renewal of Hope will urge all Yemeni parties to dialogue in accordance with the GCC initiative and its executive mechanism and the outcomes of the Yemeni national dialogue through full compliance with UN Security Council resolution No. (2216) and accelerating its implementation so that Yemen would enjoy security and stability. We also reiterate our welcome of convening Riyadh Conference for all Yemeni parties wishing to maintain Yemen's security and stability under the GCC umbrella soon. Within the framework of our commitment to exert every effort to support humanitarian and relief works, including standing by the side of Yemeni people in their humanitarian sufferings, we declare the establishment of Humanitarian and Relief Works Centre to based in Riyadh, hoping that the United Nations is to effectively participate in coordinating the activities of all humanitarian and relief works of this center rendered to the Yemeni people with participation of sponsoring countries of the GCC initiative. Considering the current situations experienced by the Yemeni people, we have issued directives to correct the illegal residence status of some Yemeni expatriates in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, allowing them to practice work in order to alleviate the burden on them and enable them to live in dignity and honor among their brothers. We will also continue our efforts to support Yemen with all possible potentials in order to bypass this crisis and help this country to make a comeback as an active member in its Arab surrounding. Dear Brothers, Your Majesties and Highnesses, Dear attendees, Seeking the development and possession of weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, represents a very serious threat, not only to peace and security in the region, but the international peace and security. We urge the international community, especially Group 5+1, to shoulder their serious responsibilities in this regard in order to set strict rules that guarantee the region's security and stability and to prevent the region from plunging into an arms race which would only be at the expense of the path of development and prosperity of the region's peoples. Your Majesties and Highnesses, Dear attendees, The Palestinian cause remains the core issue for the Arab and Islamic nations due to the tragic suffering of the Palestinian people and the threat to the international peace and security sparked by Israeli occupation. It is time for the international community to carry out its responsibilities and play its role through issuing a decision by the Security Council adopting the Arab Peace Initiative and put its weight in the direction of its being accepted. Regarding the Syrian crisis which for so long increasing of the suffering of the Syrian people and spreading terrorism, we suggest that the contents of (Geneva 1) statement represent an entry to achieve peace and stability in Syria with our emphasis on the importance that the current regime does not have a role in the future of Syria. Finally, we hope that this meeting will achieve aspirations of our GCC peoples to be more coherent and integrated for enhancing the GCC joint action march and achieve the goals of integration and unity of the Council. May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings Be upon You. Then, President Francois Hollande of the French Republic delivered a speech in which he thanked the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and the GCC leaders for inviting him as first ever guest of honor of their consultative meetings. The French President stressed that France supports the Operation Determination Storm which now transferred into Operation Renewal of Hope aiming to restore stability in Yemen, reiterating France's commitment to stand by and support the Gulf Cooperation Council, not only as a friend and ally, but because defending the GCC interests means defending France's interests. Francois Hollande added that he agreed with the Custodian of the Two holy Mosques to upgrade existing defense agreement between us to the highest levels. The French President confirmed that France will play its role and continue in finding solutions for the Syrian crisis through bringing the moderate opposition at one point. Likewise, France stands by the side of the coalition fighting ISIS and trying to bring the situation in control in Libya through the UN efforts. He added that France stands by supporting the Yemeni legitimacy for Yemeni's unity and freedom as well as for implementing the Security Council decision No. 2216. He paid tribute to the King's initiative to hold soon in Riyadh a conference for Yemeni parties. Regarding the Iranian issue, Hollande stressed that ongoing talks on the Iranian nuclear program deserves our keenness and vigilance. 'We want strong, sustainable and verifiable agreement. We must remain attentive to the Iranian actions and not only words, the French President said. The Kingdom's delegation to the 15th GCC Consultative Meeting included Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif bin Abdulaziz, Deputy Premier and Minister of Interior; Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Second Deputy Premier and Minister of Defense; Dr. Musaed bin Mohammed Al-Aiban, Minister of State and Member of the Cabinet; Dr. Ibrahim bin Abdulaziz Al-Assaf, Minister of Finance, and Adel bin Ahmad Al-Jubeir, Minister of Foreign Affairs. The accompanying delegations of the GCC leaders and heads of delegations also attended the meeting.
