Keith Vaz – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Keith Vaz on 2015-10-13.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions he has had with the Saudi Arabian authorities on pursuing a negotiated solution to the conflict in Yemen.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK Government is in regular contact with the Saudi authorities about the situation in Yemen through our Embassy in Riyadh and our Yemen Office based in Jeddah. The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond) spoke to Saudi Foreign Minister Al Jubeir on 29 September in the margins of the UN General Assembly. He underlined the importance of a political solution to the current crisis as soon as possible and reinforced the necessity of compliance with international humanitarian law. I also chaired a high level meeting at UNGA focused on pursuing a political solution.