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France Calls for Humanitarian Corridors in Syria as Death Toll in Ghouta Mounts

Smoke billows from an area that was targeted by Syrian regime air strikes in the rebel-held town of Arbin, on the outskirts of Damascus, on February 1, 2018. (AFP)
Smoke billows from an area that was targeted by Syrian regime air strikes in the rebel-held town of Arbin, on the outskirts of Damascus, on February 1, 2018. (AFP)
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France Calls for Humanitarian Corridors in Syria as Death Toll in Ghouta Mounts

Smoke billows from an area that was targeted by Syrian regime air strikes in the rebel-held town of Arbin, on the outskirts of Damascus, on February 1, 2018. (AFP)
Smoke billows from an area that was targeted by Syrian regime air strikes in the rebel-held town of Arbin, on the outskirts of Damascus, on February 1, 2018. (AFP)

France called on Friday for the opening of humanitarian corridors in Syria as a monitor announced that the shelling of the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta enclave has been the worst in three years.

French Defense Minister Florence Parly demanded an end to air strikes, saying it was unacceptable that civilians were being targeted.

“We are very worried. The air strikes need to end,” Parly said on France Inter radio.

She highlighted the fighting in rebel-held areas of Idlib province and eastern Damascus, where waves of Syrian regime and Russian strikes have killed dozens of civilians in recent days.

“Civilians are the targets, in Idlib and in the east of Damascus. This fighting is absolutely unacceptable,” she added.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights meanwhile said that Eastern Ghouta, a Damascus suburb, has suffered its bloodiest week since 2015 as a result of regime bombardment, with 229 people killed in the last four days.

“During the past four days 229 people were killed in Eastern Ghouta villages, including 58 children and 43 women,” Rami Abdulrahman, the head of the Britain-based war monitor, told Reuters.

The Syrian war, now entering its eighth year, has killed hundreds of thousands of people and driven more than 11 million from their homes, while drawing in regional countries and global powers supporting client factions on the ground.

Parly did not specify who was carrying out the strikes.

Her comments came after the United Nations on Tuesday called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Syria of at least a month. UN war crimes experts have also said they are investigating several reports of bombs allegedly containing chlorine gas being used against civilians.

Russia said on Thursday that a ceasefire was unrealistic.

Standing beside Russian President Vladimir Putin last summer, French leader Emmanuel Macron said any failure to open humanitarian corridors in Syria represented a “red line”, as did the use of chemical weapons.

France and the United Nations have repeatedly called in past months for the opening of aid corridors to alleviate the humanitarian crisis. The Paris government has also urged Moscow in private to consider ways to alleviate the crisis, but those efforts have not materialized into results on the ground.

France’s foreign minister is due in Russia before the end of February.

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Gulf

Saudi Defense Minister Chairs Meeting of General Authority for Survey and Geospatial Information

Saudi Minister of Defense Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz. (SPA).
Saudi Minister of Defense Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz. (SPA).
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Saudi Defense Minister Chairs Meeting of General Authority for Survey and Geospatial Information

Saudi Minister of Defense Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz. (SPA).
Saudi Minister of Defense Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz. (SPA).

Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman bin Abdulaziz chaired on Wednesday a meeting of the General Authority for Survey and Geospatial Information (GEOSA) in his capacity as its chairman.

Officials reviewed GEOSA’s efforts in building and developing the national geospatial infrastructure.

The meeting highlighted GEOSA's participation at international events and the strategic partnerships it has forged with various entities from the government and private sectors.

The officials were briefed on sectoral and institutional strategies; current and future plans in the fields of geospatial information, aerial imagery, and remote sensing; and the data, services, and products provided by the authority to entities from both the government and private sectors in line with global best practices.

The officials followed up on the progress made on decisions related policies, standards, evidence, regulations, and regulatory conditions for the sector. They reviewed efforts aimed at boosting and developing national capabilities in the geospatial information sector.

The GEOSA board made decisions related to administrative and financial committees.

Prince Khalid underscored the unlimited support accorded by the Saudi leadership to GEOSA in organizing, elevating and supervising the geospatial and remote sensing sector in the Kingdom, ensuring quality and performance improvement.

This approach has allowed GEOSA to assume a leading role in the field of geospatial information at regional and international levels, he remarked.

World

UK Begins Detaining Migrants Set to Be Deported to Rwanda

Campaigners protest against the British government's Rwanda deportation scheme outside a Home Office immigration reporting center in Croydon, south London, Britain, 29 April 2024. EPA/TOLGA AKMEN
Campaigners protest against the British government's Rwanda deportation scheme outside a Home Office immigration reporting center in Croydon, south London, Britain, 29 April 2024. EPA/TOLGA AKMEN
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UK Begins Detaining Migrants Set to Be Deported to Rwanda

Campaigners protest against the British government's Rwanda deportation scheme outside a Home Office immigration reporting center in Croydon, south London, Britain, 29 April 2024. EPA/TOLGA AKMEN
Campaigners protest against the British government's Rwanda deportation scheme outside a Home Office immigration reporting center in Croydon, south London, Britain, 29 April 2024. EPA/TOLGA AKMEN

British authorities have started to detain migrants in preparation for them to be sent to Rwanda in the next nine to 11 weeks, the government said on Wednesday, laying the groundwork for Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's flagship immigration policy, Reuters said.
Parliament last month approved a law that paves the way for sending asylum seekers to Rwanda if they arrive in Britain without permission. Sunak, who is expected to call an election later this year in which illegal migration is likely to feature prominently, wants the first flights to take off in July.
More than 7,500 migrants have arrived in England on small boats from France so far this year. The government says the new law will deter people from making the perilous trip across the Channel. Five people died trying to make the crossing last week.
Images released by Britain's interior ministry on Wednesday showed a man being put in a van by immigration enforcement officials, and another being led out of his house in handcuffs.
"Our dedicated enforcement teams are working at pace to swiftly detain those who have no right to be here so we can get flights off the ground," interior minister James Cleverly said in a statement on Wednesday.
One trade union representing civil servants who may be instructed to help enact the policy said it had launched a legal challenge because its members were potentially being asked to breach international law.
"Civil servants should never be left in a position where they are conflicted between the instructions of ministers and adhering to the Civil Service Code, yet that is exactly what the government has chosen to do," said Dave Penman, General Secretary of the FDA union.
OPPOSITION
Other unions and human rights charities opposed to the policy are expected to launch challenges to stop the flights from taking off after the UK Supreme Court declared the policy unlawful last year.
Care4Calais, a refugee charity, said the detentions had started on Monday.
A spokesperson said the group's helpline had received calls from "tens of people", adding that they still did not know who would be earmarked for the first deportation flight, or when it would be attempted. "People are very frightened," said Natasha Tsangarides, Associate Director of Advocacy at charity Freedom from Torture, saying the fear of being detained and sent to Rwanda would push some people to go underground and disengage with their support system.
Britain sent its first asylum seeker to Rwanda under a voluntary scheme, The Sun Newspaper reported on Tuesday, a separate programme to the deportation policy.

World

Death Toll from South China Road Collapse Rises to 36

Guangdong has been hit by a string of disasters attributed to extreme weather events in recent weeks. (AFP)
Guangdong has been hit by a string of disasters attributed to extreme weather events in recent weeks. (AFP)
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Death Toll from South China Road Collapse Rises to 36

Guangdong has been hit by a string of disasters attributed to extreme weather events in recent weeks. (AFP)
Guangdong has been hit by a string of disasters attributed to extreme weather events in recent weeks. (AFP)

The death toll from a highway collapse in southern China's Guangdong province has risen to 36, state media said Thursday, as rescue work continued.
Heavy rains caused a stretch of road running from Meizhou city towards Dabu county to cave in at around 2:10 am on Wednesday (1810 GMT Tuesday), according to state news agency Xinhua.
Vehicles careened into the nearly 18-meter-long (59-foot) gash in the tarmac and plummeted down the steep slope below.
Guangdong, a densely populated industrial powerhouse, has been hit by a string of disasters attributed to extreme weather events in recent weeks.
The storms have been much heavier than expected this time of year and have been linked to climate change.
China is the biggest emitter of the greenhouse gasses that contribute to climate change but has pledged to reduce emissions to net zero by 2060.
- 'All-out' efforts -
"As of 5:30 am on (Thursday)... 36 people have died, and 30 people have been injured," Xinhua said, adding that the injuries were not life-threatening.
The death toll was up from 24 people on Wednesday afternoon.
Footage by state broadcaster CCTV showed excavators digging through the muddy hillside below the collapsed road.
Nearby, a crane lifted charred, wrecked vehicles onto a lorry as people watched from behind a cordon.
State media called the road collapse a "natural geological disaster" caused by the "impact of persistent heavy rain".
President Xi Jinping ordered officials to "go all-out in on-site rescue work and treatment of the injured, and arrange for the management of risks and hidden dangers in a timely manner", CCTV said on Thursday.
Around 500 people have been dispatched to help with the rescue operation, it added.
The provincial government has "mobilized elite specialized forces and gone all out to carry out... search and rescue", according to Xinhua.
An official notice on Wednesday advised that part of the S12 highway was closed in both directions, requiring detours.
- More disasters likely -
Parts of central and eastern Guangdong have received up to 600 millimeters of rain in the last 10 days, three times the amount normally expected at this time of year, the national weather office said Thursday.
Up to 120 millimeters more rain was forecast for the province's southwestern areas on Thursday, alongside further downpours across southern China until Sunday.
The conditions "raise the risk of disasters, especially geological disasters, which have a certain lag time", the weather office said.
The emergency management ministry also warned that persistent rain would make such disasters more likely.
Officials have warned people to plan journeys carefully during the May public holiday, which runs until Sunday.
Massive downpours in Guangdong last month sparked floods that claimed four lives and forced the evacuation of more than 100,000 people.
And last week, a tornado killed five people when it ripped through the megacity of Guangzhou.

Gulf

Kuwait Thwarts Terrorist Plot to Attack American Forces

This picture taken on April 23, 2024 from Salmiya shows a view of an aquatics sports center with the skyline of Kuwait City behind. (AFP)
This picture taken on April 23, 2024 from Salmiya shows a view of an aquatics sports center with the skyline of Kuwait City behind. (AFP)
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Kuwait Thwarts Terrorist Plot to Attack American Forces

This picture taken on April 23, 2024 from Salmiya shows a view of an aquatics sports center with the skyline of Kuwait City behind. (AFP)
This picture taken on April 23, 2024 from Salmiya shows a view of an aquatics sports center with the skyline of Kuwait City behind. (AFP)

Kuwaiti authorities arrested a citizen for plotting to carry out a terrorist attack against American forces deployed in the country.

The General Prosecution said on Wednesday that it ordered the arrest of the suspect on charges of “joining a banned organization and plotting terrorist attacks in the country.”

In a post on the X platform, it said the suspect had posted on social media recordings belonging to the banned group.

Other suspects were also involved in the plot.

The main suspect had learned how to manufacture explosives and had incited others to learn how to do so with the purpose of bombing US army barracks, continued the prosecution.

It has interrogated the accused and he confessed to the charges against him. It has also ordered the arrest of other suspects related to the case.

On January 25, Kuwaiti authorities announced that they had thwarted a terrorist plot to attack Shiite places of worship.

Three people were arrested in connection to the case. They were all members of the terrorist ISIS group and were Arab nationals working in Kuwait.

Arab World

Syrians Accuse Russia of Hitting Hospital in New Complaint Filed with UN Rights Committee

A Syrian man walks across an empty street at Shehel after the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) imposed their control over the town, in Deir ez-Zor province, eastern Syria, 09 September 2023. EPA/AHMED MARDNLI
A Syrian man walks across an empty street at Shehel after the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) imposed their control over the town, in Deir ez-Zor province, eastern Syria, 09 September 2023. EPA/AHMED MARDNLI
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Syrians Accuse Russia of Hitting Hospital in New Complaint Filed with UN Rights Committee

A Syrian man walks across an empty street at Shehel after the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) imposed their control over the town, in Deir ez-Zor province, eastern Syria, 09 September 2023. EPA/AHMED MARDNLI
A Syrian man walks across an empty street at Shehel after the Kurdish-led, US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) imposed their control over the town, in Deir ez-Zor province, eastern Syria, 09 September 2023. EPA/AHMED MARDNLI

A Syrian man and an aid organization have accused Russia of violating international law by deliberately bombing a hospital in northern Syria in 2019, in a new complaint filed at the United Nations Human Rights Committee this week.
Russia, which intervened militarily in Syria's conflict in 2015 to bolster the forces of its ally President Bashar al-Assad, has been accused by UN investigators of committing war crimes in Syria, but has not faced any international tribunal.
Moscow has repeatedly denied accusations that it violated international law in Syria, Reuters reported.
The new complaint, filed on May 1 but made public on Thursday, accuses Russia's Air Force of killing two civilians in a series of air strikes on the Kafr Nobol Surgical Hospital in the northwest province of Idlib on May 5, 2019.
It was brought to the committee by the cousin of those killed and by Hand in Hand for Aid and Development, an aid group that was supporting the hospital, which was in territory held by armed groups opposed to Assad.
The complaint relies on videos, eyewitness statements and audio recordings, including correspondence between a Russian pilot and ground control about dropping munitions.
"Syrians are looking to the Human Rights Committee to show us some measure of redress by acknowledging the truth of this brutal attack, and the suffering caused," said Fadi al-Dairi, the director of Hand in Hand.
The Geneva-based Human Rights Committee is a body of independent experts that monitors the status of political and civil rights around the world, and can receive complaints by states and individuals on alleged violations.
Individual complaints can lead to compensation payments, investigations or other measures.
While rights groups have accused both Syria and Russia of violating international law within Syria for years, neither country is party to the International Criminal Court's Rome Statute, and opportunities for accountability are rare.
Russia signed onto the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1991, meaning it accepts the Human Rights Committee's ability to consider complaints from individuals against it.
"This complaint before a preeminent international human rights tribunal exposes the Russian government and armed forces' deliberate strategy of targeting healthcare in clear violation of the laws of war," said James A. Goldston, executive director of the Justice Initiative, whose lawyers are representing the applicants.
In 2019, the UN Human Rights Commission - a separate body - said strikes on medical facilities in Syria including the Kafr Nobol hospital "strongly" suggested that "government-affiliated forces conducting these strikes are, at least partly, if not wholly, deliberately striking health facilities".

Arab World

Burhan Agrees to Declare State of Emergency in Khartoum

Sudan's General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan salutes as he listens to the national anthem after landing in the military airport of Port Sudan on his first trip away following the crisis in Sudan's capital Khartoum since an internal conflict broke out, in the city of Port Sudan, Sudan, August 27, 2023. (Reuters)
Sudan's General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan salutes as he listens to the national anthem after landing in the military airport of Port Sudan on his first trip away following the crisis in Sudan's capital Khartoum since an internal conflict broke out, in the city of Port Sudan, Sudan, August 27, 2023. (Reuters)
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Burhan Agrees to Declare State of Emergency in Khartoum

Sudan's General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan salutes as he listens to the national anthem after landing in the military airport of Port Sudan on his first trip away following the crisis in Sudan's capital Khartoum since an internal conflict broke out, in the city of Port Sudan, Sudan, August 27, 2023. (Reuters)
Sudan's General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan salutes as he listens to the national anthem after landing in the military airport of Port Sudan on his first trip away following the crisis in Sudan's capital Khartoum since an internal conflict broke out, in the city of Port Sudan, Sudan, August 27, 2023. (Reuters)

Acting governor of Khartoum Ahmed Othman Hamza announced on Wednesday that army commander and head of the Sovereign Council Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had agreed to a recommendation to declare a state of emergency in Khartoum State.

He said the higher committee for emergencies and crisis management in the state was in the process of issuing several decrees to impellent the state of emergency and tackle what he described as “foreign presence” in the capital.

The presence “has become a real threat to national security,” he added.

Foreigners are taking part in the fighting alongside the “rebel militia”, he went on to say in reference to the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

The army had in recent months recaptured parts of Khartoum, including areas in Omdurman, that were seized by the RSF.

The RSF still controls large parts of the capital and it is preparing to launch a large-scale offensive on al-Fashir, capital of North Darfur.

Should it succeed, it would have control over all Darfur states in western Sudan.

Doctors without Broders said on Wednesday it had treated over 100 people, including 11 children, who were wounded in the fighting in al-Fashir.

Gulf

Saudi Leadership Condoles UAE President over Death of Sheikh Tahnoun bin Mohammed Al Nahyan

Joint photo of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud - File Photo
Joint photo of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud - File Photo
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Saudi Leadership Condoles UAE President over Death of Sheikh Tahnoun bin Mohammed Al Nahyan

Joint photo of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud - File Photo
Joint photo of King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud - File Photo

The Saudi leadership sent a cable to the president of the UAE offering condolences over the death of Sheikh Tahnoun bin Mohammed Al Nahyan, Ruler’s Representative in Al Ain Region, who died on Wednesday.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, and Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, extended their sincere condolences and sympathy to UAE President, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the Saudi Press Agency said on Thursday.
They extended their condolences to the family of the deceased, appealing to Allah the Almighty to bestow his mercy upon his soul.

World

Biden Keeps Quiet as Gaza Protesters and Police Clash on College Campuses

US President Joe Biden laughs during the White House Correspondents' Association dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC, USA, 27 April 2024. EPA/BONNIE CASH / POOL
US President Joe Biden laughs during the White House Correspondents' Association dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC, USA, 27 April 2024. EPA/BONNIE CASH / POOL
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Biden Keeps Quiet as Gaza Protesters and Police Clash on College Campuses

US President Joe Biden laughs during the White House Correspondents' Association dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC, USA, 27 April 2024. EPA/BONNIE CASH / POOL
US President Joe Biden laughs during the White House Correspondents' Association dinner at the Washington Hilton in Washington, DC, USA, 27 April 2024. EPA/BONNIE CASH / POOL

President Joe Biden is staying mum about student protests and police crackdowns as Republicans try to turn campus unrest over the war in Gaza into a campaign cudgel against Democrats.
Tension at colleges and universities has been building for days as some demonstrators refuse to remove encampments and administrators turn to law enforcement to clear them by force, leading to clashes that have seized attention from politicians and the media, said The Associated Press.
But Biden's last public comment came more than a week ago, when he condemned “antisemitic protests” and “those who don’t understand what’s going on with the Palestinians.”
The White House, which has been peppered with questions by reporters, has gone only slightly further than the president. On Wednesday, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said Biden is “monitoring the situation closely," and she said some demonstrations had stepped over a line that separated free speech from unlawful behavior.
“Forcibly taking over a building," such as what happened at Columbia University in New York, "is not peaceful," she said. "It’s just not.”
Biden has never been much for protesting. His career in elected office began as a county official when he was only 28 years old, and he’s always espoused the political importance of compromise over zealousness.
As college campuses convulsed with anger over the Vietnam War in 1968, Biden was in law school at Syracuse University.
“I’m not big on flak jackets and tie-dyed shirts,” he said years later. “You know, that’s not me.″
Despite the White House's criticism and Biden's refusal to heed protesters' demands to cut off US support for Israel, Republicans blame Democrats for the disorder and have used it as a backdrop for press conferences.
“We need the president of the United States to speak to the issue and say this is wrong," House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said on Tuesday. "What’s happening on college campuses right now is wrong.”
Johnson visited Columbia with other members of his caucus last week. House Republicans sparred with protesters while speaking to the media at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
Former President Donald Trump, his party's presumptive nominee, also criticized Biden in an interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News.
“Biden has to do something,” he said. “Biden is supposed to be the voice of our country, and it’s certainly not much of a voice. It’s a voice that nobody’s heard.”
He repeated his criticisms on Wednesday during a campaign event in Waukesha, Wisconsin.
“The radical extremists and far-left agitators are terrorizing college campuses, as you possibly noticed," Trump said. “And Biden’s nowhere to be found. He hasn’t said anything."
Kate Berner, who served as deputy communications director for Biden’s campaign in 2020, said Republicans already tried the same tactic four years ago during protests over George Floyd’s murder by a police officer.
“People rejected that,” she said. “They saw that it was just fearmongering. They saw that it wasn’t based in reality.”
Apart from condemning antisemitism, the White House has been reluctant to directly engage on the issue.
Jean-Pierre repeatedly deflected questions during a briefing on Monday.
Asked whether protesters should be disciplined by their schools, she said “universities and colleges make their own decisions” and "we’re not going to weigh in from here.”
Pressed on whether police should be called in, she said “that's up to the colleges and universities.”
When quizzed about administrators rescheduling graduation ceremonies, she said “that is a decision that they have to decide" and “that is on them.”
Biden will make his own visit to a college campus on May 19 when he's scheduled to deliver the commencement address at Morehouse University in Atlanta.

Gulf

Saudi FM Discusses Sudan Developments with Burhan, Hemedti 

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah held telephone talks on Wednesday with Sudanese army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and head of the Rapid Support Forces Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. (Saudi Foreign Ministry)
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah held telephone talks on Wednesday with Sudanese army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and head of the Rapid Support Forces Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. (Saudi Foreign Ministry)
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Saudi FM Discusses Sudan Developments with Burhan, Hemedti 

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah held telephone talks on Wednesday with Sudanese army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and head of the Rapid Support Forces Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. (Saudi Foreign Ministry)
Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah held telephone talks on Wednesday with Sudanese army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and head of the Rapid Support Forces Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo. (Saudi Foreign Ministry)

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah held telephone talks on Wednesday with Sudanese army commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan and head of the Rapid Support Forces Mohammed Hamdan Dagalo, also known as Hemedti.

The talks focused on the developments in Sudan and their impact on the people.

Prince Faisal stressed the importance of protecting Sudan and its people from more destruction and deteriorating humanitarian conditions.

He called for prioritizing the interests of the people, ending the fighting, protecting the country and leading it towards safety.

Gulf

Saudi Crown Prince, BIE Secretary General Discuss Riyadh Expo 2030 Preparations

Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, meets with Secretary General of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) Dimitri Kerkentzes in Riyadh on Wednesday. (SPA)
Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, meets with Secretary General of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) Dimitri Kerkentzes in Riyadh on Wednesday. (SPA)
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Saudi Crown Prince, BIE Secretary General Discuss Riyadh Expo 2030 Preparations

Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, meets with Secretary General of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) Dimitri Kerkentzes in Riyadh on Wednesday. (SPA)
Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, meets with Secretary General of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) Dimitri Kerkentzes in Riyadh on Wednesday. (SPA)

Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, held talks in Riyadh on Wednesday with Secretary General of the Bureau International des Expositions (BIE) Dimitri Kerkentzes to discuss Riyadh’s preparations to host Expo 2030.

Present at the meeting were Minister of State, Member of the Cabinet and Acting CEO of the Royal Commission for Riyadh City Ibrahim Al-Sultan and Governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) Yasser Al-Rumayyan.

Riyadh won the bid to host the Expo 2030 in 2023.

Crown Prince Mohammed has pledged to over an exceptional version of the global event.