London, Asharq Al-Awsat—Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz left the Kingdom for Australia on Monday to represent Saudi Arabia at the G20 summit.
The Crown Prince, who also serves as the Kingdom’s minister of defense and deputy prime minister, will be attending the meetings on behalf of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz.
The leaders of the world’s 20 largest economies will converge at the G20 Leaders’ Summit in Brisbane on November 15–16. US President Barack Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin are due to attend the summit amid growing US–Russia tensions over Ukraine.
Obama’s deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, told reporters at the Apec summit in Beijing on Tuesday that there were still no plans for formal face-to-face talks between Obama and Putin at the G20 meeting.
Australian authorities on Tuesday uncovered a security breach at the convention center where the leaders will meet, according to the Australian. The daily broadsheet reported that fake CCTV cameras had been placed within the restricted zones to convey anti-G20 messages.
The official delegation of the Crown Prince includes Prince Mohammed Bin Salman Bin Abdulaziz, chief of the Crown Prince’s Court; Ibrahim Al-Assaf, minister of finance; Bandar Al-Hajjar, acting minister of culture and information; Nizar Madani, minister of state for foreign affairs; and Fahd Bin Abdullah Al-Mubarak, governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency.