RIYADH: German Ambassador to Saudi Arabia Dieter Lamle highlighted discussions that took place between Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz at a press conference in Riyadh on Sunday. “The Kingdom has an active and very important role in this region, just as Germany has an active and important role in Europe, and it is apparent that these two very important countries meet in their region to talk about issues and ways to solve them,” Lamle said. “The goal is to strengthen and deepen the economic relations between the two countries, as well as in the field of education. What we want is to start a new page in the relations between Germany and the Kingdom, and what we did yesterday is the first step for this new stage,” he added. Scholz met with the crown prince on Saturday in Jeddah during a two-day tour of the Gulf region. During the meeting, the two sides discussed potential sectors for partnerships, regional and international political issues, energy partnerships, and ways of contributing to the development of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030. “The purpose is to deepen the relationship in the field of economy and trade, and not only in concluding deals. We seek a real partnership by exchanging knowledge and experiences. The two sides benefit from each other in the exchange of knowledge, technology, and vocational education,” Lamle said. “Starting with the bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and Germany, there are some people who believe that the German side came to the Kingdom because we have a problem because of Russian supplies, and this possibility is incorrect, because we buy Saudi oil from the international natural resource markets. We can take advantage of this wealth,” he added. Lamle explained that the chancellor’s intention was to strengthen partnerships in various fields, including energy. “We did not come here for gas. The goal that was in the field of energy was to talk about green hydrogen and blue hydrogen and partnership between the two countries,” the ambassador said. He underlined that Germany is pushing for an energy transformation, with 53 percent of the country’s power being sourced through renewable energy. Its mission is to expand energy resources through partnerships with the Kingdom. “The idea is, of course, that it will be a benefit for the two sides to take advantage of German technology with the great potential in the Kingdom to produce green hydrogen because of the excellent climatic conditions for extracting solar energy to produce hydrogen,” Lamle said. “The second point discussed during the meeting was in bilateral relations, and ways to strengthen and deepen the bilateral relationship between the two countries,” he added. During the press conference, the ambassador also highlighted the regional and international conflicts including the Ukrainian-Russian and Iranian conflicts.  “They (the crown prince and chancellor) spoke about the Russian and Ukrainian wars that Europe is witnessing today.  “The federal chancellor said very clearly that it is important for Germany to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine and we will continue to support this country … the important thing is that this war does not lead to famine or problems in other parts of the world or raises energy prices to a level that some countries cannot pay these prices. “They agreed frankly that it is the most important thing for this war to end as soon as possible to end the catastrophic repercussions all over the world that result from this war,” he added. In addition to the war in Ukraine, the two leaders also discussed Iran.  “Iran poses a threat in the region, similar to the Russian-Ukraine war in Europe. Two sides are of course aware of Iran’s regional hegemony policy, and we have been working so far to re-conclude the nuclear agreement with Iran,” the ambassador said, adding: “Here, as two countries, we seek the stability of the region.” He continued: “We know, of course, that the Kingdom is a leading country in the Arab world, and the Kingdom is a member of the G20, and in this way, it has great weight in the region, and without the active supervision of the Kingdom in all issues, it cannot be resolved.”