Washington’s top diplomat is among leaders expected at a Saudi-hosted economic summit set to begin on Sunday with a strong focus on the grinding war in Gaza, organisers said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be “coming in directly from his visits in China and on his way to Israel,” Borge Brende, president of the World Economic Forum (WEF), told a press conference on Saturday in Riyadh.
Turkish diplomatic sources also said that Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan will attend those talks.
Fidan will also meet members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Arab League in Riyadh, the sources said on Saturday, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Fidan recently visited Qatar, which has been mediating between Israel and Hamas to try to put an end to the war that began with massacres in the south of Israel on October 7 and Israel’s subsequent retaliation.
The diplomatic sources said the talks will also cover the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
More than 1,000 participants
Other participants at the two-day WEF special meeting include Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and foreign ministers and prime ministers from across the Middle East and Europe.
These include foreign ministers from France, Germany, the United Kingdom and the EU and prime ministers from Qatar, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq, according to a WEF press release.
A total of 12 heads of state and government feature among the more than 1,000 participants, Brende said on Saturday.
“There is some new momentum now in the talks around the hostages, and also for… a possible way out of the impasse we are faced with in Gaza,” Brende said, without elaborating.
“There will be discussions, of course, on the ongoing humanitarian situation in Gaza” and “regional aspects also with Iran will be discussed” during what “has all the prospects for becoming a very consequential meeting.”
Hamas said it was studying on Saturday the latest Israeli counterproposal regarding a potential ceasefire in Gaza, a day after media reports said a delegation from mediator Egypt arrived in Israel in a bid to jump-start stalled negotiations.
Saudi Arabia has never recognised Israel but was considering doing so before the October 7 attack, and talks continue on a deal that would also see Riyadh and Washington bolster their security partnership.
Saudi officials fear the war in Gaza and a potential regional conflagration could stymie the Gulf kingdom’s ambitious Vision 2030 social and economic reform agenda, which is meant to lay the groundwork for an eventual post-oil future.
With AFP
