The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques meeting with the Russian President Putin on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Antalya yesterday (SPA)

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz emphasised the necessity for the international community to double its efforts to root out terrorism, stressing that this phenomenon is a “global disease which does not have a nationality or a religion”. The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques repeated his condolences to the families of the victims and the French people after the recent attacks in Paris in a speech that he gave during a working dinner for the leaders and heads of the delegations participating in the G20 summit in the Turkish city of Antalya on Sunday night. He emphasised his strong condemnation of “these disgusting, criminal attacks”. When referring to the Syrian crisis, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques called on the international community to find an urgent solution in accordance with the decisions of Geneva 1, and considers that the solution to the Syrian refugee crisis “requires the creation of a peaceful solution to the crisis”.

On the other hand, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques met a number of heads and leaders of delegations yesterday and discussed international relations and topics on the agenda of the summit with them. King Salman also had a meeting with the Russian President Vladimir Putin, the French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the British Prime Minister David Cameron and the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe.

Whilst the subject of terrorism dominated the political aspect of the summit, the final communique called on member states of the group to strengthen intelligence cooperation in order to limit the freedom of movement of terrorists. President Putin said that ISIS is funded by sources in 40 countries. As for the American President Barack Obama, he said that ISIS has become “the face of evil” and that it is every country’s duty to strengthen its efforts to fight danger.