Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah headed on Tuesday the Kingdom’s delegation at the opening of the high-level week of the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The delegation included Saudi ambassador to the United States Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz; Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Climate Envoy Adel al-Jubeir; Economy and Planning Minister Faisal Alibrahim; Deputy Foreign Minister for Multilateral International Affairs Dr. Abdulrahman al-Rassi; and Saudi Arabia’s Permanent Representative to the UN in New York Dr. Abdulaziz al-Wasil.
On the sidelines of the Assembly, Prince Faisal met with US Senators Peter Welch and Chris Coons, members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The discussions focused on the longstanding friendship between Saudi Arabia and the United States, as well as regional and international issues of mutual concern.
A day earlier, Prince Faisal co-chaired the “Two-State Solution Conference” with French President Emmanuel Macron at the General Assembly Hall. The event was marked by Macron’s announcement of France’s recognition of the State of Palestine.
The overwhelming majority of UN member states reiterated their commitment to the two-state solution, describing it as the sole path to peace and “a right, not a reward” for the Palestinian people.
Speaking on behalf of Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, Prince Faisal described the conference as “a historic opportunity to advance peace and reaffirm the international community’s commitment to implementing the two-state solution.”
This approach remained “the only way to achieve lasting and just peace in the region,” he stressed.
The growing number of recognitions of Palestine “reflected the will of the international community to secure justice for the Palestinian people and uphold their historical and legal rights, in line with international resolutions and the Arab Peace Initiative,” he added.
Prince Faisal underscored Saudi Arabia’s determination to “follow up on the outcomes of the conference to end the war in Gaza, halt unilateral measures that threaten Palestinian sovereignty, and work toward establishing an independent Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
Also on Monday, the Saudi foreign minister joined a ministerial meeting on Gaza reconstruction held on the sidelines of the Assembly.
Participants emphasized the need to prevent forced displacement under any circumstances, warned against Israeli annexation or settlement expansion, and called for an immediate end to the war to enable implementation of the joint Arab-Islamic plan for rebuilding Gaza.
