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Riyadh: The Saudi-US Committee for Strategic Dialogue will hold its third session in Riyadh this week.
The session will be co-chaired by Prince Saud Al Faisal, the Saudi Foreign Minister, and his US counterpart Condoleezza Rice.
Achievements with regard to relations between the two countries in the areas of politics, military, economics, oil, education and terror fighting will be on the committee's meeting agenda.
Regional developments
During its one-day session, the committee will also discuss developments in the region including the latest agreement concluded in Makkah between the two main Palestinian factions, Fatah and Hamas, as well as the situations in Iraq, Lebanon and Iran's nuclear programme.
Gulf News has learnt that the committee will review reports of the six ad hoc committees emanating from the Saudi-US Committee for Strategic Dialogue.
During her stay in Saudi Arabia, the US Secretary of State will meet King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz to discuss developments in the region particularly the situations in Palestine and Iraq.
The Saudi-US Committee for Strategic Dialogue was established by King Abdullah and President Bush during their April 25, 2005 meeting in Crawford, Texas.
The first session took place in November 2005 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The meetings, which take place every six months, alternating between Saudi Arabia and the US, are intended to institutionalise the two countries' historic relations.
The six working committees hold their meetings all year-round. The working committees are chaired by Elizabeth Cheney from the American side and the Saudi ambassador to the United States Adel Al Jubair from the Saudi side.
Denied
Meanwhile, the former Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Turki Al Faisal dismissed reports published by some American newspapers of differences between him and the former Saudi ambassador to the US, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan who is currently the Secretary General of the Saudi National Security Council.
"Such matters are baseless and not worth a response from me. I've mentioned the reasons for my resignation and I believe they are sufficient and reasonable," Prince Turki said in an interview with the Saudi Arabic newspaper Al Sharq Al Awsat published yesterday.
Prince Turki pointed out that his resignation was for personal and family reasons and that King Abdullah had accepted the resignation before it was announced publicly.
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