Foreign ministers of Red Sea coastal states are set to kick off meetings in Riyadh next week to promote cooperation and economic integration and to ensure maritime security along this international waterway.
The meeting is expected to tackle issues on the responsibility of Red Sea states to prevent the intervention of any foreign country in the affairs of this sensitive area.
It also aims to achieve joint interests at the Red Sea basin, which is considered a communication bridge between cultures and civilizations.
An agreement to establish an entity for the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden countries was reached in December 2018 by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen, Sudan, Djibouti and Somalia during the consultative ministerial meeting of the African and Arab Red Sea coastal states in Riyadh.
The entity aims to boost stability and increase investment opportunities in the above-mentioned countries, in addition to ensuring maritime security and preventing illegal trafficking.
The vision of states bordering the Red Sea was first proposed by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to promote cooperation between the area's African and Arab coastal states.
The Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden have long represented a critical link in a network of global waterways stretching from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean to the Pacific, prompting its protection from piracy, human trafficking and smuggling.
It also includes the Bab Al-Mandab strait.
