Saudi’s King Salman condemns Quran burning, discusses regional and global partnerships
Saudi Arabia’s King Salman bin Abdulaziz has discussed the recent burning of Islam’s holy book, the Quran, during a cabinet session at the Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah on Tuesday, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
An anti-Islam activist on Friday burned two copies of the Quran. In a solitary protest in Copenhagen Rasmus Paludan, a far-right activist who holds both Danish and Swedish citizenship, had already infuriated Turkey by staging a Quran-burning protest in Sweden on January 21.
On Friday, he replicated the stunt in front of a mosque, as well as the Turkish embassy in Copenhagen, and vowed to continue every Friday until Sweden is admitted into NATO.
Saudi Arabia’s Cabinet on Tuesday condemned the attempts to burn the Holy Quran and stressed the need to consolidate the values of dialogue, tolerance, and respect and reject everything that spreads hatred and extremism, SPA reported.
The Cabinet also the details of telephone conversations between Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and French President Emmanuel Macron, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani, and China’s President Xi Jinping.
The discussions centered around relations, areas of partnership, and opportunities to strengthen cooperation with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
In a statement to SPA following the session, Minister of Media Salman bin Yousef al-Dosari said that the Cabinet also reviewed the outcomes of the 155th Session of the Ministerial Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and discussed the developments in joint Gulf action and political issues in the regional and international arenas.
The Cabinet was briefed on several issues on its agenda and issued multiple directives which included, among others, deals in atomic energy, granting Saudi Arabia the status of a dialogue partner in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and draft memorandums of understanding for cooperation in the cultural field with Senegal and Argentina.
Agreements were also made on deals between Saudi Arabia and the UK in the field of air transport services and technical and vocational training between Saudi Arabia and China.