Germany, Saudi Arabia concerned about stability in Yemen - Summary

Riyadh - Germany and Saudi Arabia are concerned about stability in Yemen, foreign ministers of the two countries said in Riyadh on Saturday. German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said his country has a "great interest in a stable Yemen, that does not become a retreat area for terrorists."

Westerwelle was in Riyadh, on the second leg of his Middle East tour, for political and trade talks with his Saudi counterpart Saud al-Faisal.

"Yemen must remain a sovereign and independent state," al-Faisal said after meeting Westerwelle.

Al-Houthi Shiite rebels from Yemen have waged an extended campaign against the government in Sanaa. Saudi Arabia says that it was drawn into the fighting in Yemen after militants crossed into its borders and killed several soldiers in early November.

Besides the conflict in Yemen, Westerwelle and al-Faisal discussed the Israeli-Arab peace process. They said they were in favor of a quick resumption of Palestinian-Israeli peace talks and that they supported a two-state solution.

Their discussion also touched upon human rights in the kingdom. Westerwelle called for Saudi Arabia to abolish the death penalty, saying that "we are convinced that the death penalty should be abolished everywhere in the world."

Al-Faisal commented saying: "there were different value systems."

Monika Luke, representative of Amnesty International in Germany, had called on Westerwelle on Friday to discuss human rights in the peninsula, accusing the kingdom of ongoing violations of fundamental human rights.

Fighting terrorism and Iran's nuclear program were on the ministers agenda as well as ways to boost economic cooperation between the two countries, officials said.

The German foreign minister was also accompanied by a phalanx of German business people looking to make deals in the Gulf region.

Chief executive of the state-owned railways group Deutsche Bahn, Ruediger Grube is one of those accompanying Westerwelle - suggesting that he might sign deals to upgrade the rail network in the region.

In November, Deutsche Bahn signed a deal with Qatar to create a 17-billion-euro (25-billion-dollar) railway system in the Gulf state and has been courting other governments for railway building deals.

This is Westerwelle's first trip to Saudi Arabia since assuming office. He arrived in the kingdom on Friday, the second stop on his six-day trip to Turkey and several Gulf states, including Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/302859,germany-saudi-arabia-concerned-about-stability-in-yemen--summary.html.