Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister, offered his condolences to the family of Lebanon's former Premier Rafiq Al-Hariri who was killed in a terrorist crime in Beirut on Monday, pointing to a strong friendship binding him with Al-Hariri.
In a joint press conference held with French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier here today, Prince Saud said that Lebanon is an independent state and its judiciary is independent. He said we will wait to see what the Lebanese judiciary says on the issue of killing Al-Hariri.
He described the claim of a terrorist group in Lebanon on the killing of Al-Hariri in response to the elimination of the deviant group by Saudi Security forces as nonsensical, stressing that the crime is against Lebanon and the Lebanese people and cannot be justified by false allegations.
Prince Saud stressed that the Kingdom will not give up its economic commitments to Lebanon, affirming that these commitments are international and the Kingdom will not give up its international obligations
For his part, the French foreign minister said that he carries a message of friendship from President Jacques Chirac of France to Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, the Deputy Premier and Commander of the National Guard, on the enhancement of the political cooperation and bilateral relations between the two countries.
He indicated that his country is working on issuing a presidential statement or text in the UN Security Council condemning the terrorist assassination of Al-Hariri. He added that France will continue to urge an international investigation of this incident and it is currently discussing this topic with the UN Secretary General.
