Saudi Arabia to host Arab and Islamic summits on Gaza conflict

SINGAPORE: Saudi Arabia will host summits of Arab and Islamic nations in coming days to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Saudi Arabia’s investment minister said on Wednesday.

“We will see, this week, in the next few days Saudi Arabia convening an emergency Arab summit in Riyadh,” said Saudi investment minister Khalid Al-Falih, at the Bloomberg New Economy Forum in Singapore.

“In a few days you will see Saudi Arabia convening an Islamic summit,” he said.

“In the short term, the objective of bringing these three summits and other gatherings under the leadership of Saudi Arabia would be to drive towards peaceful resolution of the conflict.”

Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi will travel to Saudi Arabia on Sunday for the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation summit, Etemadonline news reported, the first visit by an Iranian head of state since Tehran and Riyadh ended years of hostility under a China-brokered deal in March.

Falih also said Saudi Arabia would convene a summit with African nations, without specifying a date. Late on Tuesday Saudi Arabia’s foreign affairs ministry had issued a statement saying that meeting, which had been set for the weekend, would be postponed in order to focus on the other two summits.