The international community needs to step up efforts to combat extremism, terrorism and the sources of its funding, affirmed the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz of Saudi Arabia, during talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin at Kremlin Palace in Moscow, on Thursday.

''The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia earlier called for establishing the UN Counter-Terrorism Centre and donated US$110 million for this purpose. The Kingdom also worked to establish an Islamic Military Coalition including 41 Islamic states to combat terrorism in addition to the establishment of the Global Centre for Combating Extremism in Riyadh," King Salman said.

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques noted identical views of the two countries on many regional and international issues.

"Bilateral co-ordination is continuing in everything that promotes security and the prosperity of our countries and serves international peace and security. We are keen on a continuation of the positive co-operation between the two countries to achieve stability of the global oil markets in order to serve the growth of the global economy," he said.

Stressing the need to end the suffering of the Palestinian people, he said, "The Arab Peace Initiative and the resolutions of the international legitimacy should be the basis for reaching a comprehensive, just and lasting peace that guarantees the right of the Palestinian people to establish their independent state with Al-Quds as its capital.

"The security and stability of the Gulf region and the Middle East are an absolute necessity for achieving international security and stability. Therefore, Iran must commit to stop interference in the region's affairs and destabilising the region.

"In Yemen, we emphasise the importance of the political solution to the Yemeni crisis according to the GCC initiative, its executive mechanism, the outputs of the Yemeni national dialogue, and the Security Council resolution no. 2216, which preserves Yemen and its unity and achieves its security and stability.

"With regards to the Syrian crisis, we are required to put an end to it in accordance with the Geneva resolution no. 1 and the Security Council resolution no. 2254 to find a political solution that guarantees security and stability and preserves Syria's unity and territorial integrity," he added.

King Salman emphasised the importance of preserving Iraq's unity and territorial integrity and its internal efforts to combat terrorism.

At the outset of the session, the Russian President delivered a speech in which he highlighted the importance of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques' visit to Russia. Commenting on the discussions held between the two sides, he said, "we made rich-content and trustworthy talks."

He expressed confidence that the visit will give a fresh impetus to the development of bilateral relations between the two countries.

Source: Wam