Prince Saud Alfaisal, the Foreign Minister, stated that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is currently carrying out ambitious development programs inside the kingdom adding that the Kingdom is utilizing most of its reserves in these programs and that these programs attracted the attention of the Summit of Twenty for their expected positive impact on stimulating demand and attracting companies and international institutions to contribute to the existing development. In a joint press conference held here today with visiting Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen, Prince Saud said it hoped this opportunity will increase the number of Saudi-Dutch joint projects which are now 73 companies working in the sectors of investment, building, construction, transport, communications, industry and other fields. Prince Saud said that one of the most important fields of Saudi-Dutch cooperation is fighting terrorism since the participation of the Netherlands in the international conference on fighting terrorism hosted by Riyadh in 2005. Prince Saud stressed the importance of combining security efforts to fight terrorism with work to root out this international phenomenon requiring policies to fight the sources of financing terrorism and fight the thought of fanaticism and incited extremism including the thoughts of hate, exclusion, racism and the tendency to disdain peoples, cultures and religions. Prince Saud said he discussed with the Dutch Foreign Minister a number of political issues witnessed by the Middle East region including the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and said he stressed that solving this conflict will greatly contribute to solving a number of problems suffered by the Middle East region. Prince Saud stressed the importance of reviving the peace process and Israel's seriousness and truthfulness toward the peace process including ceasing the building of settlements or their expansion, stopping all existing measures to Judaize Alquds and change features on the ground and lifting the unjust blockade against the Palestinian people. Prince Saud appreciated the role of the Netherlands and the European Union in aiding the Palestinian people and lifting their humanitarian suffering. --More
