Saudi Arabia denied that a meeting had taken place between its commerce minister and his Israeli counterpart on Monday, after a viral video showed their interaction on the sidelines of a World Trade Organization conference in Abu Dhabi.
\nThe kingdom\u2019s state news agency SPA reported, citing an official Saudi source, that Commerce Minister Majid bin Abdullah al-Qasabi was standing alongside his Nigerian counterpart when \u201can unknown individual approached the minister to offer greetings.\u201d
\nHe \u201clater identified himself as the minister of economy in the Israeli occupation government,\u201d SPA said, quoting the official Saudi source.
\nIsraeli Economy and Industry Minister Nir Barkat mentioned the interaction earlier on Monday, voicing confidence that the countries can \u201cmake history together,\u201d Barkat\u2019s office said.
\nTrade ministers from around the world gathered on Monday for the four-day WTO meeting which aims to set new global commerce rules.
\nThe interaction between Qasabi and Barkat was a rarity given the lack of formal relations between their countries, though the United States has sought to bring them closer.
\nThe source also stressed the kingdom\u2019s \u201csteadfast stance on the Palestinian cause and its support for the resilience of the Palestinian people against Israeli aggression,\u201d SPA said.
\n(Reuters)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Saudi Arabia denied a meeting between its Commerce Minister Majid bin Abdullah al-Qasabi and Israeli Economy and Industry Minister Nir Barkat, attributing their interaction at a World Trade Organization conference in Abu Dhabi to an unexpected greeting by Barkat, who identified himself afterwards. The incident was notable due to the absence of formal relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, despite efforts by the United States to foster closer ties. Saudi Arabia reaffirmed its support for the Palestinian cause in response to the incident.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3322,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[3,26,145,415,658,299,949,544,18],"class_list":["post-3321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cyprus","tag-cyprus","tag-economy","tag-gaza","tag-government","tag-history","tag-israel","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-united-states","tag-world"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n