H.E Alkhateeb met with Prime Minister Hon. Roosevelt Skerrit and other officials at the Kempinksi Hotel where discussions of expanding biateral relations between the Commonwealth of Dominica and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia took place. Prime Minister Skerrit stated that the Government of Dominica looks forward to the further strengthening of bilateral ties and collaboration with Saudi Arabia. “We’ve received today the Minister of Tourism of Saudi Arabia. He paid a visit to us to discuss the bilateral relations between Dominica and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. As you know Dominica does have diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia. We have great admiration for the state and Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. We discussed many areas of possible collaboration and cooperation, and so we look forward to the strengthening and deepening of our bilateral relations,” Hon. Skerrit stated.
Prime Minister Skerrit noted that there are many areas of development that can foster collaboration between the two nations. He stated that the visit of the Minister is an indication of sincerity from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. “We are very confident that the strengthening of that relationship can happen and so we have been in touch with Saudi Arabia for some time over a period of time. This is the first visit of a high ranking official to Dominica; so it is a good indication of the seriousness and the sincerity of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in advancing the bilateral relations with Dominica. As I indicated, there are a number of areas, including infrastructure, tourism, and agriculture, which we believe that we can collaborate with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” PM Skerrit added. Minister for Foreign Affairs, International Business and Diaspora Relations, Hon. Dr. Kenneth Darroux described the visit of the Saudi Tourism Minister as an indication of the progressive moves that this Government is making.
“This is another progressive move by the Government of Dominica. One of the policies has always been to try to extend our bilateral relations beyond some of the traditional boundaries that we have known. There a number of possible areas with potential for cooperation which were discussed between the Saudi Arabia Minister and the Prime Minister. This is one of the progressive ways that this administration is looking to bring about development to this country,” the Foreign Affairs Minister stated.
Dr. Darroux went on to say that Government is working towards the modernization and development of Dominica, stating “we realize that we cannot do it on our own and if we are going to take Dominica to the next level, we have to start thinking outside the box; we have to start thinking of nontraditional ways of doing business and this sounds promising.”