Canada, Saudi Arabia rekindle diplomatic relations after 2018 human rights rift

Canada and Saudi Arabia agreed to renew diplomatic relations, ending a five-year dispute jumpstarted by human rights issues.

The resolution, introduced by each overseas ministries late Wednesday, was reached following discussions by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on the sidelines of the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation discussion board in Bangkok in November final yr.

It displays the “need for either side to revive diplomatic relations between the nations on the idea of mutual respect,” Saudi Arabia and Canada stated.

Canada has appointed Jean-Philippe Linteau, who has most just lately served because the nation’s consul normal in Dubai, as Ottawa’s new ambassador to Saudi Arabia. Riyadh has but to announce its personal ambassador.

Diplomatic ties between the 2 nations fissured in the summertime of 2018, mere months earlier than the October killing of dissident Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi earned Riyadh widespread criticism from Western companions. The rupture was sparked by Canada’s tweet expressing Ottawa was “gravely involved about extra arrests of civil society and girls’s rights activists,” coupled with a plea for Saudi authorities to “instantly launch them.”

Riyadh on the time qualified Canada’s position as “overt and blatant interference within the inner affairs of the Kingdom” and a “contravention of probably the most fundamental worldwide norms.” The kingdom swiftly retaliated by freezing new commerce and funding transactions, giving the Canadian ambassador 24 hours to exit the nation and stopping medical remedy packages within the North American nation.

Official Canadian data signifies that the North American nation’s exports to Saudi Arabia totaled $2.2 billion Canadian {dollars} ($1.62 billion) in 2021, of which 81% comprised transportation tools. Canada’s imports from Saudi Arabia amounted to 2.4 billion Canadian {dollars} over that very same interval.

The normalization of relations with Canada is the newest in Saudi Arabia’s obvious steps to pursue diplomatic stability, fostering a progress atmosphere for its plans to additional diversify its more-than-$1 trillion economic system away from historic reliance on fossil fuels.

In early March, Riyadh agreed to resuscitate ties with arch-rival Iran in a China-brokered association, whereas U.S. President Joe Biden lastly met the crown prince in July final yr, with a watch to “reset” Washington’s relationship with its Middle East ally.