Riyadh: All the countries of the world have a shared responsibility to fight and eliminate extremism and terrorism regardless of their origins, Saudi King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud said as he opened the 36th Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) summit in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has exerted tremendous efforts in this regard and it will continue its efforts in cooperation and coordination with sisterly and friendly countries,” King Salman said.
“We do stress that terrorism has no religion and that Islam, as a religion of moderation, fully rejects and condemns it,” the Saudi monarch said at Al Dariya Palace where the leaders of the GCC states gathered for their summit.
The GCC, comprising Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, was established in 1981.
“As I welcome you to your second country, I wish you a gracious stay here and pray to God Almighty to crown our efforts with success. I also express my deepest thanks and gratitude to our brother Shaikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar, for his successful efforts as the Chairman of the GCC Supreme Council to reinforce our forward-moving progress,” he said.
King Salman who was chairing his first GCC summit since he assumed power in January following the death of King Abdullah, warned that while the GCC countries enjoyed security, stability and prosperity, the highly complex conditions and challenges in the region called for cohesion and conjugated efforts among the GCC states to ensure protection from foreign threats.
“We need to work together to fortify our countries in face of foreign menaces. We also need to extend our hands to our brothers to help them recover their security and stability. We also need to confront together the challenges to the Arab region and to settle all pending issues, primarily the Palestinian cause and the restoration of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people to their independent state with Al Quds as its capital,” he said.
As regards Yemen, the member states of the Coalition are keen on achieving security and stability under the leadership of its legitimate government, he said.
“We in the GCC countries support the political solution so that Yemen can overcome its crisis and set again on moving forward on the nation-building process and on development,” King Salman said.
“As for Syria, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is hosting the Syrian opposition as part of its support to reach a political solution that guarantees the integrity of the Syrian territories and in accordance with Geneva I resolutions,” he said.
King Salman said that the summit in Riyadh should be used to assess achievements and to look forward to the future.
“Our citizens are looking forward to achievements that touch more upon their daily lives and meet their ambitions,” he said.
