“I was extremely happy to meet with President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, whom I hold in high esteem. He has great appreciation for Saudi Arabia,” Prince Naif told reporters.
Prince Naif, who was in Tunis to attend a meeting of the Arab Interior Ministers Council, thanked the president for opening the council meeting.
The Saudi minister said his talks with the Tunisian president had covered many topics related to the Arab world apart from bilateral relations.
On the sidelines of the council meeting, Prince Naif signed an agreement with Yemen for cooperation in civil defense and another accord with Sudan on the transfer of prisoners.
Meanwhile, the final communiqué issued by the meeting urged all countries in the world, especially the United Kingdom and other EU members, not to give refuge to terrorist groups and terror financiers and to drive them out.
The ministers also called on other countries not to allow terrorists to use their lands to carry out attacks against Arab states. They condemned all forms of terrorism but emphasized the need to differentiate between terrorism and the legitimate struggle of people against occupation. No divine religion and international charters approve the killing of innocent people, the ministers said, opposing the linking of terrorism with Islam.
During the meeting, Saudi Arabia presented a draft Arab strategy to strengthen intellectual security while Bahrain presented another draft security agreement between Arab countries.
The meeting supported the measures taken by Saudi Arabia to drive out infiltrators and expressed its satisfaction over the return of calmness to the Kingdom’s southern border.
The meeting endorsed the sixth phase of the Arab strategy for fighting drugs, the fifth phase for combating terrorism, and the second phase for civilian protection.
It also approved the resolutions adopted by conferences organized by the council’s secretariat and of the joint meetings of Arab interior and justice ministers.
The joint meeting had endorsed five agreements related to combating corruption, money laundering and terror funding, information technology crimes and organized crimes across the border.
