Senate president, House speaker discuss ties, region with Saudi Shura Council head

AMMAN — Senate President Faisal Fayez met with Speaker of Saudi Arabia's Shura Council Sheikh Abdullah Al Sheikh on Saturday over means to strengthen Jordanian-Saudi relations in various sectors.

The meeting went over the latest regional developments and the importance of boosting parliamentary relations, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

Fayez reviewed the challenges related to Jordan's geopolitical location, as the Kingdom deals with the Israeli occupation from the west, and arms and drugs smuggling from the Syrian territory through the northern borders, in addition to economic challenges due to regional developments.

The Senate president commended Saudi Arabia's stances in support of Jordan, stressing the need to further increase economic partnerships and Saudi investments in the Kingdom. 

Al Sheikh requested that the Shura Council be provided with information on the requirements for investing in Jordan to be forwarded to the relevant authorities in Riyadh.

Lower House Speaker Ahmad Safadi and Al Sheikh also held talks on Saturday, during which the two stressed the "deep-rooted and solid" state of bilateral relations under the leadership of His Majesty King Abdullah and the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.

Both officials noted that Jordanian-Saudi relations enjoy close coordination between HRH Crown Prince Hussein and HRH Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz, Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia. 

They also emphasised the importance of enhancing joint parliamentary action and coordinating stances in Arab and international arenas to serve the best interests of the two peoples and Arab and Islamic causes.

Safadi reiterated the importance of the Hashemite Custodianship over Jerusalem’s Islamic and Christian holy sites, stressing the need to preserve their Arab identity and respect the legal and historical status quo in Jerusalem. The Hashemite Custodianship has played a great role in preserving the identity of the holy city, he said.

The House speaker also noted that the security and stability of both kingdoms are intertwined, and that Jordan and Saudi Arabia are entitled to protect the security of their territories. 

Jordan participated in the last Arab summit in Jeddah with greater representation, Safadi said. King Abdullah and Crown Prince Hussein participated in the event to ensure its success in restoring Arab solidarity and building on the outcomes of Amman and Jeddah meetings in regard to the crisis in Syria.

Al Sheikh said that the effective development of bilateral relations in various fields is attributed to the continuous support of the two leaderships.

He stressed the importance of visits between parliaments, expressing hopes that exerted efforts and visits would result in boosting bilateral relations that serve the mutual interests of the two countries and peoples.

The Saudi Shura Council speaker commended Safadi's efforts in realising joint goals of the two institutions, underscoring the need to strengthen parliamentary friendship committees and increase the number of visits.