Saudi Arabia, the host of the 19th Arab summit which concluded Thursday afternoon, is stepping up its diplomatic efforts in mediating Middle East issues.

High summit turnout displays Saudi regional power

The 19th Arab League (AL) summit drew together 17 heads of state of Arab countries, outnumbering the number of the two previous ones in Khartoum and Algiers due to the sensitive situation in the region and the influence of the host.

The world's prominent politicians, including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, African Union chief Alfa Omer Konary, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki, also attended the two- day summit of pan-Arab bloc.

The unprecedented high turnout of Arab leaders is certainly a good illustration of Saudi Arabia's increasing power, which plays more active diplomatic role in the region.

Just like what UN chief Ban Ki-moon described, this year's Arab summit with high turnout is the most important one in the recent years.

But the unprecedented attention comes undeniably with another reason, as pointed out by Ban, the situation in the region is now more complicated and more dangerous than ever before.

Brokering Mecca Agreement sets a good example

Analysts expected that the oil-rich kingdom will play a more and more important role in mediating a wide range of issues in the Mideast, citing the recent Saudi-brokered Mecca agreement as a successful and encouraging example.

On Feb. 8, two Palestinian mainstream movements of Fatah and Hamas reached a power-sharing agreement to form a national unity government and end factional infighting prevailed in the Palestinian territories.

According to the accord, a new Palestinian unity government was finally established earlier this month, bringing hopes that the sanctions imposed on Palestinians will be lifted with the inclusion of moderate Fatah movement.

Saudi Arabia's active and effective mediation between the two rival Palestinian movements deeply impressed not only the Arab world but also the whole international community.

While winning laud from the world, Saudi Arabia's successful diplomatic efforts would naturally increase its confidence in its future mediating and diplomatic moves.

Engaging Iran on Lebanon crisis

Reaching out to Iran, a non-Arab but a controversial regional power, is another recent diplomatic move by Saudi Arabia, said the analysts.

Riyadh held an eye-catching summit with Iran in early March, whose disputed nuclear program has become a focal point in the international arena.

It is also believed that the predominantly Shiite Iran has massive leverage in Iraq and Lebanon although Tehran is always reluctant to admit that.

The predominantly Sunni Saudi Arabia supports the Western- backed Seniora government in Beirut, while the opposition in Lebanon is led by the Shiite Hezbollah movement backed by Iran and Syria.

Judged from the above fact, Iran and Saudi Arabia seems two parallel lines never with intersection point, but the kingdom managed to make the impossibility to reality.

On March 3, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad paid his first official visit to Riyadh, where the hard-line Iranian leader had reportedly backed Saudi efforts to break the political deadlock in Lebanon.

In the wake of the visit, Lebanese parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri and opposition speaker Nabih Berri then embarked on a series of talks, sparking hopes of a breakthrough in the four-month-old stalemate.

(Xinhua News Agency March 30, 2007)