The official added that the countries attending the summit will include Ukraine, as well as Brazil, India, South Africa and several other developing countries.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (left) is welcomed by Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Badr Bin Sultan upon his arrival at the Arab League Summit in May 2023. Photo: Reuters
Details of the summit are still in flux and no date has been set for the talks, but diplomats involved in the talks said they could take place on August 5 and 6, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Saudi Arabia's hosting of the talks comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy attended an Arab League summit in May and urged countries there to support Kiev.
Arab countries have largely remained neutral since Russia launched its special military operation in Ukraine in February 2022, partly due to their military and economic ties with Russia.
For its part, Saudi Arabia also maintains close ties with Russia as part of the OPEC+ group. Therefore, hosting a peace summit for Ukraine is expected by Saudi Arabia to help improve its image with the West.
The upcoming conference in Jeddah is also seen as a follow-up to a meeting of senior officials in Copenhagen (Denmark) in late June, with the participation of Brazil, India, Türkiye and South Africa and many developing countries to discuss the Ukraine issue.
Western diplomats say Saudi Arabia was chosen to host the second round of talks partly in the hope of persuading China to join.
Riyadh and Beijing have maintained close ties. Earlier this year, China helped negotiate a thaw in relations between Saudi Arabia and its biggest regional rival, Iran, months after Riyadh hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping at an Arab summit.
At the Copenhagen meeting in June, there was a wide gap in positions between Ukraine and most of the developing countries that attended. Ukraine asked the participants to support President Zelenskyy’s 10-point peace plan, which required Russia to withdraw its troops from all Ukrainian-claimed territories before peace talks could begin.
The group of developing countries said at the time that they were ready to discuss common principles but did not agree with Ukraine's plan.
Nguyen Khanh (according to WSJ, Reuters)
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