Turkey, Saudi Arabia to hold third Coordination Council meeting in Ankara
The third meeting of the Turkish-Saudi Coordination Council will be held Wednesday in Ankara, chaired by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud. The two sides are expected to finalize a visa exemption deal for diplomatic and green passport holders and review subcommittee work. Bilateral trade volume reached $8.5 billion by end-2025.
The third meeting of the Turkish-Saudi Coordination Council will be held Wednesday in Ankara, chaired by Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud, Foreign Ministry sources said.
The two sides are expected to finalize a visa exemption deal for holders of diplomatic and green passports — the latter issued to government officials, senior civil servants and a limited group of businesspeople. Talks will focus on advancing bilateral relations, cooperation and a review of the work of the council’s subcommittees, according to the sources.
During the talks, Fidan is expected to highlight the strategic importance of connectivity in the face of regional developments and stress that strengthening regional ownership is crucial for ensuring permanent security and stability, the sources said. He will emphasize that Türkiye will continue contributing constructively to U.S.-Iran talks to ensure they conclude with permanent peace, and will stress the necessity to prevent developments related to the Strait of Hormuz from paving the way for new tensions and provocations.
On Gaza, Fidan will emphasize the importance of defending the two-state solution vision in a determined manner amid ongoing cease-fire violations by the Netanyahu government and illegal actions against Palestinians in the West Bank, the sources said. He is also expected to hold consultations with the Saudi side on negotiations for implementing the second stage of the Gaza peace deal and the work of the Board of Peace, and to highlight the need for a more deterrent stance by the international community against Israel’s occupation of Lebanon.
The Turkish-Saudi Coordination Council was established in 2016 and held its first meeting in Ankara in 2017. The second meeting was held in May 2025 in Riyadh. The council comprises five subcommittees covering politics, diplomacy, military and security; culture, sports, media, tourism, social development, health and education; and commerce, industry, investment, infrastructure and energy.
Bilateral trade volume between Türkiye and Saudi Arabia rose to $8.5 billion as of the end of 2025.