Al-Faisal denies differences with Washington: Our relations are transparent

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal yesterday denied the existence of any differences with the US at a time when foreign diplomats and analysts in the region stress that Saudi- American relations have been exposed to great pressures, but what the two countries are linked by interests that are much greater to allow a split by temporary differences.

Al- Faisal said "We, in the Saudi government do not see this pressure. The two countries continue to be important for each other, and for that, we are building our relations on reality, transparency and facts. The matter will be catastrophic in case we build our friendship on rumors and lies." Concerning the criticism made by American conservatives and the accusations. addressed to Saudi Arabia as a " nucleus for terrorism," al-Faisal said " we hope that the US will deal with those people who accuse Saudi Arabia falsely."

He added that Riyadh has been fighting terrorism since before September 11, 2001 and that since then, Saudi Arabia has coordinated with Washington. He added " we got only words of appreciation." He explained that Saudi Arabia prevented the occurrence of "several terrorist operations and prevented in past months the arrival of 70 million dollars to al-Qaida. He said " thus we are doing a very good job."