Saudi, Romanian Foreign Ministries Hold Political Consultations

The Saudi and Romanian Foreign Ministries convened the 4th round of political consultations in Bucharest. SPA
The Saudi and Romanian Foreign Ministries convened the 4th round of political consultations in Bucharest. SPA
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Saudi, Romanian Foreign Ministries Hold Political Consultations

The Saudi and Romanian Foreign Ministries convened the 4th round of political consultations in Bucharest. SPA
The Saudi and Romanian Foreign Ministries convened the 4th round of political consultations in Bucharest. SPA

The Saudi and Romanian Foreign Ministries on Thursday convened the fourth round of political consultations in Bucharest.

Saudi Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Eng. Waleed El-Khereiji and Romanian State Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Traian Hristea co-chaired their respective delegations during the session.

The consultations focused on exploring avenues to strengthen bilateral relations across various domains.

Additionally, both sides engaged in discussions concerning regional and international issues.

Saudi Ambassador to Romania Dr. Mohammed Abdul Ghani Khayat attended the meeting.



Taiwan’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia: 260,000 Pagers Exported in Two Years

Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Taiwan’s Ambassador to Saudi Arabia: 260,000 Pagers Exported in Two Years

Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang. (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Taiwan is investigating who is responsible for modifying the pagers that were turned into explosives in the hands of the Lebanese people, including members of Hezbollah.

Taiwan’s representative to Saudi Arabia Samee Chang told Asharq Al-Awsat that 260,000 pagers were exported from his country between 2022 and 2024, and 16 percent of them were sent to the United States and Europe.

He expressed his regret that the pagers were planted with explosives that were used in the attack in Lebanon last month, clarifying that the devices were not directly exported from Taiwan to Lebanon.

He explained that the components of the device are made of material that is not liable to explode.

Apollo Gold, the Taiwanese company that exported the pagers between 2022 and 2024, has never received any complaints that its devices have caused harm or exploded.

The attack in Lebanon has raised several questions and they are being probed by authorities in Taiwan, he went on to say.

One thing is for certain, the devices were not harmful in the shape they were exported from the country, stressed Chang.

Asked about whether the attack may harm Taiwan’s economy, he replied that his country’s industry sector has a strong reputation that will be difficult to undermine given the trust it has from clients.

The size of the sector and Taiwan’s investments cannot be measured by a small number of pagers, as they only make up a mere fraction in the country’s trade relations with countries all over the world, he stressed.

Separately, Chang revealed that Taiwan was considering cooperation with Saudi Arabia in the chip industry, saying he was optimistic over the broad potential for cooperation in the technology sector.

There are no limits to the cooperation between them, he added.

Taiwan constantly wants to maintain the relations and discuss opportunities for joint investments, he stated.

Taiwan was among the first countries to leap to cooperate with Saudi Arabia in all fields to help the Kingdom achieve its Vision 2030 that is spearheaded by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Chang said.