Saudi Arabia
King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud began his virtual address at the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on Wednesday by affirming Saudi Arabia’s “perpetual commitment to international legitimacy principles and resolutions, respect of national sovereignty of all countries and non-interference in other countries internal affairs.”
The monarch went on to say that since Saudi Arabia is a founding member of the UN, it was duty-bound to “preserve international peace and security” and “necessitate the strengthening of international multilateral cooperation,” especially given the challenge posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The “pandemic has proven that the path to sustainable recovery depends on our cooperation, all together, in a collective framework,” he said. Recalling Saudi Arabia’s “vital role in the international response” to COVID-19 during its G20 presidency last year, the monarch said the Kingdom provided $500 million to support global efforts to combat the pandemic and $300 million additional aid to “assist the countries’ efforts to combat the pandemic.”
Noting the critical role played by the Gulf Kingdom in fighting climate change, King Salman said it launched several initiatives in this regard, including Vision 2030, the Saudi Green Initiative, and the Middle East Green Initiative.
Vision 2030, a flagship scheme of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, aims to “achieve prosperity, build a better future, and create a leading economy as well as a dynamic society engaged with the world,” he said. Since the adoption of Vision 2030 five years ago, it has not only “made tremendous headway” in developing the economy through sustainable solutions but also played a crucial role in empowering Saudi women and youth and improving the quality of life for all, King Salman added.
Next, he said the Kingdom’s foreign policy was based on “strengthening peace and security” and “supporting dialogue and peaceful solutions.” In this context, he noted Saudi Arabia’s successes in sponsoring agreements between Gulf Cooperation Council members, supporting Iraq’s recovery, seeking a peaceful solution to the Nile Dam dispute, sponsoring peace initiatives for the crises in Syria and Libya, and efforts aimed at achieving stability in Afghanistan.
Furthermore, King Salman stressed that the Yemen Peace Initiative, introduced by the Kingdom in March, is capable of “ending the conflict [and] stopping the bloodshed” in Yemen. He also blamed Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis for aggravating the suffering of the Yemeni people. “Unfortunately, the terrorist Houthi militia continues to reject the peaceful solutions, opting instead for the military option to control more Yemeni land, and carrying out daily aggression against civilian objects inside the Kingdom, and undermining international navigation and global energy supplies,” he said.
Hinting that Iran is backing the Houthis, he called on the Islamic Republic to “avoid interfering in the internal affairs of other countries, as well as its cessation from all types of support for terrorist groups and sectarian militias that have brought only war, destruction, and suffering to the peoples of the world.”
Moreover, the Saudi monarch highlighted the importance of maintaining the nuclear-weapon-free Middle East and said Saudi Arabia “supports the international efforts aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons.”
Concluding his speech, King Salman said: “The Kingdom underscores the importance of the international community standing firmly against all those who support, sponsor, finance, and harbour terrorist groups and sectarian militias, or use them as a means to spread chaos and destruction, furthering their hegemony and influence.”
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Jordan
In his pre-recorded address to the UNGA, King Abdullah II underscored the importance of “collective action” in combating global challenges to peace and security, particularly the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
“Global partnership is critical to resolving one of the longest-standing conflicts in modern history—the Palestinian-Israeli conflict,” Abdullah said. “The bitter war on Gaza this past year was a reminder that the current situation is simply unsustainable. And the suffering we continue to see points us once more to the critical need to keep supporting UNRWA [Relief and Works Agency for Palestine],” he added.
Noting that this conflict has taken far too long to resolve and has cost countless lives, Abdullah said, “Genuine security for either side […] can only be achieved through the two-state solution,” on the basis of the June 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as Palestine’s capital, “living side-by-side with Israel in peace and security.” He added that “Jordan will continue working to preserve the historical and legal status quo of Jerusalem and its Islamic and Christian Holy Sites, under Hashemite Custodianship.”
The Jordanian monarch also brought up the “dire humanitarian and economic situation” in Lebanon. “Desperate living conditions are looming for millions of Lebanese. In this time of great need, we owe the Lebanese people our full support to rise from this crisis. And that demands a well-planned, well-executed international response, engaging all of us,” he said.
“Leaving people in need, innocents in jeopardy and conflicts unresolved plays into the hands of global extremists, who exploit the despair, frustration, and anger these crises leave in their wake,” the monarch added.
Warning that the battle against terrorism is not yet over, Abdullah called for “collective, global action” to effectively address this challenge.
Next, Abdullah urged the world to unite against the “most existential [threat] of our time—the global climate crisis.” Saying that Jordan suffers badly from the impacts of a warming Earth, Abdullah called on the global community to “respond quickly and smoothly” to mitigate the adverse effects of climate change.
“As one of the water-poorest countries in the world, Jordan is painfully aware of the threat,” he said. “But no country can combat climate change on its own. And that is a powerful reminder of the need to develop new ways to respond as one world, one humanity, to all the crises and challenges we face,” he added.
Lastly, Abdullah emphasised that the international community should “re-think, re-calibrate and re-direct” its efforts to “keep our world away from danger.”