Canada ‘extends olive branch’ to end crisis with Saudi Arabia

Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said yesterday that she hopes to meet her Saudi counterpart, Adel Al-Jubeir, this week on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly meetings in New York to discuss the diplomatic rift between their countries.

“Canada is extending an olive branch to Saudi Arabia to avoid a prolonged diplomatic crisis that affected Canadian companies and Saudi students in Canadian universities,” Freeland said during an event hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

The Canadian minister warned that “if this meeting fails, the crisis will extend for a long time”, Reuters reported.

Bloomberg reported on Friday that Canada has made a final offer to Saudi Arabia to end the diplomatic crisis.

A diplomatic crisis broke out between the two countries in August after the Canadian embassy in Riyadh called on Saudi to immediately release human rights activists detained in the Kingdom.

Saudi Arabia accused Canada of interfering in its internal affairs, recalled its ambassador from Ottawa and expelled the Canadian ambassador from Riyadh.

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