On behalf of His Highness Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Engineer Waleed bin Abdulkarim Al-Khuraiji, today participated in the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) conference titled 'Conflict Prevention and Preventive Diplomacy', in the Philippine capital Manila.

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs delivered a speech in which he stressed enhancing dialogue and building mutual trust, and expanding the scope of regional cooperation more than ever before, pointing to the Kingdom's recognition of the vital role played by ASEAN in promoting peace, stability, and prosperity, and its welcome of the progress made through recent ASEAN summits in promoting economic integration and addressing common regional and global challenges.

He said: The Kingdom affirms its firm commitment to strengthening its partnership with ASEAN based on the achievements of the ASEAN and Gulf Cooperation Council summits, in addition to our regions' ability to open new horizons for growth while enhancing resilience and advancing our common interests. His Excellency stressed that the Kingdom continues its call for dialogue, diplomacy, and de-escalation as the only reliable path to achieve lasting peace and regional stability, reiterating the Kingdom's condemnation of the illegitimate Iranian attacks on oil and gas tankers, vital infrastructure, and civilian areas in the Gulf, and the Kingdom's reaffirmation of the right of states to defend themselves in accordance with Article 51 of the United Nations Charter.

The Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs affirmed the Kingdom's condemnation of the false allegations made by the Houthi militia accusing the Kingdom of imposing a siege on Yemen, reiterating the Kingdom's strong condemnation of the repeated attacks carried out by the Houthi militia on civilians and vital infrastructure, which threaten regional stability, stressing the Kingdom's firm support for the brotherly Yemeni people and their legitimate government.

He explained that Saudi Vision 2030 is based on prioritizing cooperation over confrontation, and making economic partnership a driver for lasting peace and shared prosperity, pointing out that the Kingdom, as a party to the Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation, bears a shared responsibility to support its principles by enhancing multilateral cooperation, supporting preventive diplomacy, protecting freedom of navigation, and promoting dialogue as the preferred means of conflict resolution. The conference was attended by the Ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to the Republic of the Philippines, Faisal Al-Ghamdi.