Saudi defense minister holds bilateral meetings during counterterrorism talks in Riyadh

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s Minister of Defense Prince Khalid bin Salman held talks on Saturday with the Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of Libya’s Government of National Unity Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh, in Riyadh.

Prince Khalid conveyed greetings to Dbeibeh from King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

The talks were held on the sidelines of the second meeting of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition inaugurated earlier on Saturday by Prince Khalid, who is also the chairman of the Council of Defense Ministers of the IMCTC’s member states.

The two sides reviewed bilateral relations and discussed many topics on the meeting’s agenda, along with defense cooperation and the latest regional and international developments.

“I conveyed to the prime minister the greetings of the leadership and we reviewed our countries’ relations and defense cooperation, and discussed regional and international developments,” the prince said in a post on X.

Prince Khalid also held talks with Kuwait’s Minister of Defense and Acting Minister of Interior Sheikh Fahad Yusuf Saud Al-Sabah over defense ties and other issues.

Prince Khalid added on X: “We affirmed our fraternal ties and discussed our defense cooperation and regional and international developments.”

He also held separate meetings with his defense counterparts from Djibouti, Sudan, and Mauritania on the sidelines of the conference.

The IMCTC’s meeting, which was held under the theme “Combating Terrorism: A Shared Responsibility,” was attended by defense ministers from the coalition’s member states and its supporting countries.