London: Saudi King Abdullah met with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown today to discuss terrorism, the Middle East peace talks and the Iranian nuclear standoff as part of a visit that has drawn protests.
Brown described Saudi Arabia as an important partner and ally in the Middle East in an interview published today in the London-based Saudi-owned newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat.
Abdullah's 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which calls on Arab countries to make peace if Israel withdraws from the Palestinian territories, is an important framework going into a US-sponsored peace conference, Brown said.
No date has been set, but Brown said Saudi participation was crucial at the peace conference, expected to take place in Annapolis, Maryland.
"The Saudis have done more than many over recent years to get us to where we are today," Brown was quoted as saying. "We see an engaged Saudi role as key to helping bring about the success of this."
Abdullah, 83, who is also the Saudi prime minister, accused Britain of failing to act on intelligence that might have prevented the 2005 London transit bombings, in which four suicide bombers killed 52 people. British officials insist they would have acted on such information had it existed.
Analysts said the king's comments appeared to be aimed at distancing himself from the extremists and at the same time pre-empt attacks on Saudi Arabia s record of fighting terrorism.
