Patrick Simonnet, head of the EU delegation to Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Oman, called on Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir at his office in Riyadh on Monday. During the meeting, they discussed ways to strengthen ties between Saudi Arabia and the EU in all fields. They also reviewed regional and international issues of common interest. Earlier, Simonnet also met Dr. Awwad Al-Awwad, president of Saudi Arabia’s Human Rights Commission. They discussed aspects of cooperation between the two sides in the field of human rights. Al-Awwad highlighted Saudi Arabia’s efforts in supporting and promoting human rights in the Kingdom. The rights chief told the diplomat that the Saudi leadership considered development of people the main source of achieving sustainable development goals. Al-Awwad also highlighted various measures the Kingdom has taken to protect and preserve human rights. Saudi civil society institutions are playing a key role in protecting human rights by expanding their capacity  to deal with international UN human rights’ mechanisms in line with the sustainable development goals, the Saudi Vision 2030 and their role during the Kingdom’s presidency of the G20.