Saudi King congratulates Ghannouchi on his election as Speaker of Tunisian Parliament 

Congratulations were conveyed by the Saudi ambassador to Tunisia, Mohammed Bin Mahmoud Al-Ali, during his meeting with speaker of the Assembly of the Representatives of the People, Rached Ghannouchi in parliament.

On Friday, Bin Mahmoud Al-Ali relayed the congratulations of King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz to Sheikh Ghannouchi, on the occasion of his election as the speaker of parliament.

This came during Ghannouchi’s reception of the Kingdom’s ambassador to Tunisia at the Bardo Palace (House of Parliament), according to a statement issued by the Assembly of the Representatives of the People, monitored by Anadolu Agency.

“The Saudi ambassador conveyed to Ghannouchi the congratulations of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman Bin Abdul Aziz, on the occasion of his election to the presidency of the parliament and the start of its duties,” detailed the statement.

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It added that “the Saudi ambassador showed the importance of strengthening cooperation between Tunisia’s Assembly of the Representatives of the People and Saudi Arabia’s Shura Council, and pushing forward the partnership between them at the level of exchange of expertise and experience.”

Ghannouchi stressed the depth of fraternal relations and cooperation between the Tunisian and Saudi peoples, and the joint keenness between the two countries’ leaderships to cooperate in various fields.

On 13 November, Ghannouchi won 123 out of 217 votes in the elections of the presidency of Assembly of the Representatives of the People, and the Ennahda Party chose Habib Jemli to form the new government.

Ghannouchi’s relationship with Saudi Arabia had earlier been strained, following statements attributed to the Ennahda leader comparing the killing of journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to the killing of Mohamed Bouazizi, sparking the Tunisian revolution, which Riyadh considered as an incitement against the Kingdom.