Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud visited Ankara in his first visit to Turkey since the death of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018…reports Asian Lite News
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan greeted the crown prince on Wednesday with a grand welcoming ceremony, which was followed by a private meeting between the two leaders, Xinhua news agency reported.
Turkey is the third stop of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s regional tour, which also brought him to Egypt and Jordan.
Khashoggi, a Saudi columnist for The Washington Post, was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018, causing international backlash against the crown prince, and plunging the bilateral ties between Saudi Arabia and Turkey onto a rock bottom.
In addition, the two countries didn’t see eye to eye on a range of regional issues concerning Egypt, Libya, and Syria.
Ankara, which is in the grip of a deep economic downturn, has been recently seeking to restore ties with Riyadh and other Gulf Arab countries.
In April, a Turkish court decided to halt the trial of Saudi Arabian suspects over the death of Khashoggi and transfer the proceedings to the Saudi authorities. Weeks after the court’s decision, the Turkish President visited Saudi Arabia and held a meeting with the Crown Prince.
Meanwhile, during Wednesday’s talks, bilateral relations between the two countries were reviewed from various aspects, including in the political, economic, military, security and cultural fields.
The two sides discussed ways of developing and diversifying intra-trade, facilitating trade exchange between the two countries.
They have also expressed aspiration to cooperate in the fields of energy, including petroleum, refining and petrochemicals, energy efficiency, electricity, renewable energy, innovation and clean technologies for hydrocarbon resources, low-carbon fuels and hydrogen, and to work on localizing energy sector products and associated supply chains, and developing projects related to these fields, the Saudi Press Agency reported.
In the field of environment and climate change, the Turkey welcomed the Saudi’s launch of the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI) and Middle East Green Initiative (MGI).
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The two sides reiterated the importance of adhering to the principles of the Framework Convention on Climate Change and the Paris Agreement, and the need to develop and implement the climate agreement by focusing on emissions without sources.
The two parties agreed to develop productive and investment partnerships in the fields of artificial intelligence, digital technologies and smart cities, as well as to encourage private sector actors working in these areas to cooperate.
The Turkish side also called on investment funds operating in the Saudi entrepreneurship environment to invest in emerging companies in Turkey, and to establish partnerships with them.
