 News
Briefing: U.S. Secretary of Defense
William S. Cohen and Saudi Minister of
Defense and Aviation Prince Sultan bin
Abdulaziz in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
October
19, 1999
Question:
The visit of the U.S. Secretary of
Defense to Saudi Arabia comes less than
two weeks before Your Highness is
scheduled to visit the United States at
the invitation of President Clinton.
What is the nature of the visit of the
U.S. Secretary of State and what is the
agenda of the talks. Did you have
identical points of view?
Prince
Sultan: First of all, a scheduled
visit by the Secretary of Defense is
always a visit we welcome. It is the
visit of a friend with whom we always
cooperate for the benefit of peace and
security of the region and for the
interests of all our nations. Such
visits will be repeated by our side and
by their side for the benefit of both
nations and for the security of the
people of Saudi Arabia and the welfare
and service of its citizens.
Question:
What are the major points you raised
with the U.S. Secretary?
Prince
Sultan: There are no major points to
list. The points are that it was a
friendly meeting during which we
reviewed what all of us have already
accomplished for the development of our
armed forces and for equipping it with
the weapons which the Saudi armed forces
can use in a positive way for its
management, maintenance and
modernization. This is a friendly visit
to exchange views.
Question:
Are you satisfied with the U.S. use
of air strikes to contain Iraq? Do you
foresee any change in posture in the
near future?
Prince
Sultan: Firstly, these are
resolutions of the U.N. Security Council
resolutions and of allied states, and we
have no decision or position. We all
hope that Iraq complies with U.N.
Security Council resolutions for the
benefit of Iraq and the Iraqi people.
Question:
The U.S. Secretary of Defense, in press
remarks, said that...(inaudible)........Hani
Al Sayegh? Was this issue raised?
Prince
Sultan: (inaudible) . . . Hani Al
Sayegh has returned to his country. His
family has visited him -- his mother,
his wife and his father -- and he is in
good condition, and we are all committed
to Sharia law.
Question:
Did the Kingdom request that the United
States help in tracking down the three
suspects (in the Al Khobar bombing) whom
Prince Na'if announced a few days ago?
Prince
Sultan: Never. We and the United
States are in full agreement regarding
the circumstances surrounding this
bombing that harmed the image of Saudi
Arabia and which hurt innocent people.
Question:
Mr. Secretary, Mr. Cohen, will you
tell us about the matters and the
subjects you discussed with His
Highness, and did you discuss,
especially, the presentation [presence]
of the American troops and the expenses
of this presentation [presence]?
Secretary
Cohen: As His Royal Highness has
just indicated, we covered many issues -
many issues pertaining to security
throughout the Gulf region. We spoke of
the Middle East peace process. We talked
about events in Pakistan. We talked
about a wide variety of issues that we
share mutual interests in. We did not
have any discussions of specific
monetary obligations or contributions.
We have a very strong security
relationship with Saudi Arabia that we
intend to continue in the future.
Question:
Do you have any same point of view about
the development in Pakistan?
Secretary
Cohen: We both agree that there
should be a return to democratic rule as
soon as possible.
Question:
Is anybody . . . or has any Gulf
official asked the United States to
start sharing in expenses of the
American presentation [presence] here?
Secretary
Cohen: We did not have any
discussion dealing with monetary
matters. We have again, a mutual
security interest. We work very closely.
Our forces have trained together, and we
recently completed a very important
exercise. We look forward to more
exercises in the future.
Source:
U.S.
Department of Defense
Back
to top
|
