He meets Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan al-Saud and Investment Minister Khalid bin Abdulaziz al-Falih. The topics of discussion are security policy developments in the region and economic issues. A visit to the historically significant Al Ula oasis in the north-west of the country is also planned. Accompanied by a business delegation, Schallenberg travels to Oman in the evening.
The topic of security policy is a focus of Schallenberg’s visit to the “leading power in the region”. In the run-up to the meetings, the Foreign Minister identified a slight rapprochement between the Kingdom and Iran, so the topic will probably also be a revival of the suspended Vienna Nuclear Agreement (JCPOA) from 2015. Saudi Arabia views the international nuclear deal with Iran with mixed feelings of its own. Although Iran potentially armed with nuclear weapons is not ideal for the kingdom either, a successful deal would also mean the end of the economic isolation of the Islamic Republic, which could become a serious competitor for hegemony in the region.
Schallenberg is of the opinion that the talks should be resumed after the US exit in 2018 under the aegis of the then US President Donald Trump in order to ensure that the Iranian nuclear program is monitored. Even a less than optimal deal would be a deal, argued the foreign minister to journalists on his journey to Riyadh. Of course, he was “no longer as optimistic as he was in the spring.”
A sensitive point in the conversation with Foreign Minister Faisal could be the controversial “King Abdullah Center for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue” (KAICIID), which will withdraw from Vienna after almost ten years and, according to media reports, will reposition itself in Portugal. The center, founded in 2012 by Austria, Saudi Arabia and Spain, was controversial in this country from the start. Calls for the closure of the center, located in the Sturany Palace on Vienna’s Ringstrasse, were loud among other things because of the brutal actions of the Saudi government against demonstrators and critics of the regime.
In June 2019, a majority of the National Council voted in favor of Austria’s exit in a legally non-binding resolution. At the beginning of March 2021, the KAICIID announced its move, initially without naming a location. However, the ÖVP did not endorse the National Council resolution because it feared for Austria’s image as a location for international organizations. Concerns shared by diplomats in Riyadh. Vienna’s reputation as a reliable partner has suffered. In addition, an implicitly deeper meaning of the center was not recognized in Austria, is criticized. After all, with the positioning of the center on the international stage, the Saudi Arabian leadership also pursued the goal of further promoting the reforms in society that were being pushed forward under the de facto leadership of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. An “opening to the outside” means that there is “no going back” later, according to the somewhat sloppy analysis.
