Jeddah – King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia spoke about the recent burning of the Quran during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday at the Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah, according to the official Saudi News Agency.
Two copies of the Quran were set on fire by an anti-Islam protester on Friday. Rasmus Paludan, a far-right activist with both Danish and Swedish citizenship, staged a lone protest in Copenhagen after angering Turkey on January 21 with a Quran-burning demonstration in Sweden.
He repeated the act in front of a mosque and the Turkish embassy in Copenhagen on Friday, promising to do so every Friday until Sweden is admitted to NATO.
The Holy Quran was attempted to be burned on Tuesday, and the Saudi Cabinet condemned the actions and emphasised the need to strengthen the values of respect, tolerance, and discourse and reject anything that promotes extremism and hatred.
The Cabinet also received information about the specifics of phone calls made by Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to Chinese President Xi Jinping, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Iraqi Prime Minister Mohamed Shia al-Sudani.
Discussions concentrated on ways to improve relationships with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as well as potential partnership opportunities.
Salman bin Yousef al-Dosari, the minister of media, said in a statement to SPA after the meeting that the Cabinet also reviewed the conclusions of the 155th Ministerial Council of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Session and discussed recent developments in joint Gulf action as well as political issues on the regional and global levels.
The Cabinet was briefed on a number of the items on its agenda and issued a number of directives, including draught memorandums of understanding for cooperation in the cultural field with Senegal and Argentina, deals in atomic energy, granting Saudi Arabia the status of a dialogue partner in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, and deals in atomic energy.
Moreover, agreements were reached on projects including air transport services between Saudi Arabia and the UK and technical and vocational training between Saudi Arabia and China.
