The European Union (EU) Special Representative to the Gulf Region, Luigi Di Maio, was received by Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Waleed El-Khuraiji, in the country’s capital, Riyad. The Saudi Arabia Foreign Affairs Ministry stated this in its release to the press immediately after the two top government representatives had met.
The meeting, which had in attendance other representatives, notably the EU Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Patrick Simonnet, was dominated by discussions concerning their common interests.
At the meeting, the representatives reviewed relations between Saudi Arabia and the EU and how to advance their common interests in all areas of mutual cooperation in the Gulf region.
In 2004, a delegation of the EU was officially opened in Saudi Arabia, enabled by an adjustment in the Lisbon Treaty.
The EU delegation came to light following the establishment of a unified diplomatic service, also known as the European External Action Service, which paved the way for the establishment of EU embassies in some regions of the world, including the Gulf region.
