Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Austrian Vice Chancellor and Foreign Minister Dr. Michael Spindelegger held a press conference here today. At the beginning of the conference, Prince Saud Al-Faisal read the following statement: I have pleasure to welcome Austrian Vice-Chancellor and Foreign Minister and his accompanying delegation in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Our meeting today is an opportunity to talk about bilateral relations, in the context of enhancing them to broader horizons to live up to the levels of ambitions and potentials abound in our two countries. We hope to strengthen bilateral relations through the activation of agreements and Memorandums of Understanding, the Joint Committee, and Business Council which was agreed upon last year. I commend the level of cultural cooperation between the two countries, which was culminated in the establishment of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Interreligious and Intercultural International Center for Dialogue with participation of Austria and Spain. The establishment of the center in Vienna is not surprising as the city has a long history and distinguished site in the march of human civilization. Within the framework of political issues of common concern, we discussed the situation in Syria in the light of developments at Syrian and international arenas, the need for an immediate halt to the bloodshed of the Syrian people with emphasis on the importance of unification of international vision in dealing with the crisis, and the responsibility of the United Nations Security Council to reach a solid position that maintains Syria's security, stability and territorial and national integrity to meet the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people. My country sees that the brutal assault perpetrated by the Syrian regime against its people, requires enabling the people to defend themselves.
