BERLIN (dpa-AFX) – Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock is setting off on a three-day trip to the Gulf region this Monday. According to a spokesman for the Federal Foreign Office on Friday, the Green politician will first travel to Saudi Arabia and then visit Qatar. The talks would focus on regional issues, including above all crisis management with a view to Sudan, but also to Yemen.
On Monday, the minister wants to meet her counterpart Faisal bin Farhan in the Saudi port city of Jeddah on the Red Sea. The spokesman announced that another appointment would deal with the situation in Sudan. There will also be a meeting with representatives of civil society. On Tuesday, Baerbock will speak to Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmed bin Mubarak in Jeddah and meet with the UN coordinator for Yemen, David Gressly.
Baerbock plans to meet Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha, the capital of Qatar, on Tuesday afternoon. A meeting with representatives of the International Labor Organization (ILO) is also planned in the desert state on the Persian Gulf. It should be about workers’ rights. Among other things, when building the venues for the 2022 World Cup, there was criticism of the conditions for the construction workers. Qatar is also said to be about the crises in Sudan and Yemen and the situation in Afghanistan. Saudi Arabia and Qatar are internationally criticized for human rights violations.
From diplomatic circles in the Saudi capital Riyadh it was said that the talks would also deal with cooperation in the energy sector. Saudi Arabia’s normalization of relations with Iran and Syria’s return to the Arab League would also be issues. A few days after Baerbock’s visit, the organization’s summit will take place in Saudi Arabia on Friday, to which Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad has also been invited.
Relations between Germany and Saudi Arabia were considered shattered for years, mainly because of Saudi Arabia’s involvement in the war in Yemen and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Despite ongoing criticism, also because of the human rights situation, Saudi Arabia’s crown prince and de facto ruler, Mohammed bin Salman, is once again an important dialogue partner for the West as well. Last year he received Chancellor Olaf Scholz in September and US President Joe Biden in July./bk/DP/ngu