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OTTAWA, THURSDAY – Canada and Saudi Arabia have agreed to fully restore diplomatic relations and appoint a new ambassador. Relations between the two countries have been strained since 2018 after Canada criticized a number of actions by the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia seen as restricting the human rights of its own citizens.

“Both parties wish to restore diplomatic relations on the basis of mutual respect for mutual interests,” the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a written statement, Wednesday (24/5/2023).

Canada has appointed a new ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Jean-Philippe Linteau. However, Saudi Arabia has not yet announced its new ambassador who will be stationed in Ottawa, the capital of Canada.

The decision to normalize diplomatic relations was made following a meeting between Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in Bangkok, Thailand, in November 2022. The two leaders held a meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit.

The two countries were involved in a dispute over women’s rights activists in 2018, which damaged bilateral relations and trade. At that time, Saudi Arabia expelled Canada’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia and recalled its own ambassador. Saudi Arabia also sold Canadian investments and ordered its citizens who were studying in Canada to leave Canada.

The policy was adopted after the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs posted on Twitter its support for women’s rights activists arrested by Saudi Arabia. The message posted on Twitter in Arabic calls for the immediate release of women’s rights activists detained by Saudi Arabia.

Also read: Saudi Crown Prince indicted in US and accused of sending assassination team to Canada

Among those arrested at that time was Samar Badawi, the brother of writer Raif Badawi, who was arrested in Saudi Arabia in 2012 and sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison for insulting Islam in writings about his blog.

His case has long been raised and defended by international human rights groups, including Canada, which has also urged Saudi Arabia to release him. His wife, Ensaf Haidar, lives in Canada and has obtained Canadian citizenship.

“Canada is deeply concerned by the arrests of civil society and women’s rights activists in #SaudiArabia, including Samar Badawi. “We urge the Saudi authorities to immediately release them and all other peaceful human rights activists,” the Canadian Ministry of Foreign Affairs wrote on its official Twitter account in August 2018.

The message was then responded to by a statement from Saudi Arabia that Canada’s interference in its affairs constituted a violation of the principle of sovereignty. “Canada’s position constitutes a blatant and unacceptable violation of the Kingdom’s laws and procedures,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry wrote.

Subsequently, the Saudi Foreign Ministry declared Canadian Ambassador Dennis Horak persona non grata and gave him 24 hours to leave the country. Relations between Canada and Saudi Arabia deteriorated following the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Also read: Turkey entrusts the Khashoggi file to Saudi Arabia as part of the normalization of relations between Ankara and Riyadh

The journalist critical of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia disappeared after entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018. He was planning to deal with the administration regarding his planned engagement to a Turkish woman.

According to investigations carried out by Turkish authorities, Khashoggi was killed at the consulate by a team from Saudi Arabia a few days earlier. The body was said to have been mutilated.

Canada, along with other countries, condemned the assassination as a “senseless attack on freedom of expression” and imposed sanctions on Saudi citizens linked to the attack.

Recently, Al-Jazeera said, Saudi Arabia has begun to emerge on the world stage through a series of tie-ups. Saudi Arabia wants to reaffirm its position as a regional power.

Last March, Saudi Arabia restored diplomatic relations with Iran under a deal brokered by China. This month, Saudi Arabia also reopened relations with Syria.

Also read: Saudi officials allegedly threatened head of UN investigation team

Saudi Arabia is also trying to broker peace in Sudan by hosting talks between representatives of two warring generals in Sudan. The United States is also a party to the negotiations. White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan also met with Saudi officials to discuss peace in Yemen.

“Saudi Arabia’s position in the region is very important and it is an important player. “For this reason, there must be an ambassador on site to maintain access to communications,” said Roland Paris, a former foreign policy adviser to Trudeau and professor of international relations at the University of Ottawa.

Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly said Canada must always talk to any party, even if the people involved do not share Canada’s views. This is with the aim of finding global solutions to global problems.

Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest exporter of crude oil. According to Canadian government data, in 2021, Canadian exports to Saudi Arabia will reach US$2.2 billion. Canadian imports from Saudi Arabia reached US$2.4 billion. Canada’s imports consist almost entirely of petroleum and petrochemicals. More than 80 percent of Canadian exports to Saudi Arabia are for transportation.

Thomas Juneau, assistant professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa, wrote in the Washington Post on August 7, 2018 that the relationship between Canada and Saudi Arabia is in reality not not so important for both parties. Annual bilateral trade has fluctuated between $3 billion and $4 billion in recent years. This is roughly equivalent to the value of trade between Canada and the United States in just two days.

The two countries also cooperate in the areas of security and defense. However, the scale is small. This is a pretty good cooperation in the field of education. About 15,000 Saudis study at Canadian universities, including about 1,000 medical students. This places Saudi students fourth in terms of the number of foreign students in the country. (Reuters/AFP/AP)