Saudi Arabia and Ukraine confirmed on Sunday that the Saudi Kingdom will host a peace summit in August.
“We are preparing the next meeting of national security advisers regarding the implementation of the Ukraine Peace Formula, which will soon take place in Saudi Arabia,” posted Andriy Yermak, the head of the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on social media.
“The first NSAs meeting that we initiated took place in June in Copenhagen. We are now working hard to involve as many partners as possible from both the West and the Global South in the negotiations in Saudi Arabia. Many thanks to the hosts and co-organizers for their commitment,” Yermak continued.
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the Global South is a broad term referring to nations in various regions of Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, Asia (without Israel, Japan, and South Korea), as well as Oceania (without Australia and New Zealand), according to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
The Wall Street Journal broke the story following U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan’s visit to Saudi Arabia last week.
The report claimed the summit will take place in Jeddah, a port city on the Red Sea, as early as this weekend; however, details have not yet been confirmed.
In his statement, Yermak said the "Ukrainian Peace Formula" would be discussed during the summit.
“The Ukrainian Peace Formula contains 10 fundamental points, the implementation of which will not only ensure peace for Ukraine but also create mechanisms to counter future conflicts in the world,” the statement read.
“We are deeply convinced that the Ukrainian peace plan should be taken as a basis, because the war is taking place on our land.”
The WSJ report claimed that the Saudi summit may be the kingdom’s attempt at gaining diplomacy over the Moscow invasion and that the initiative may be intended to woo Global South countries, which have been resistant to efforts by Western nations to impose sanctions on Russia.
Russia has tried to sway some developing nations to stay out of the conflict by offering grain or arms deals. No representatives from Russia were invited to the summit.
Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted the leaders of several African nations last week, where he pledged to provide them with grain and discussed Russia’s proposals for a peace agreement.
The group of developing nations has reportedly agreed to discuss Ukraine’s peace plan but did not commit to adopting it.
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia is apparently trying to improve its global status and diplomatic credentials by hosting the multinational peace summit.
While Riyadh has supported U.N. Security Council resolutions condemning Russia’s invasion and annexation of territories in eastern Ukraine, the kingdom has continued to coordinate closely with Moscow on energy policy related to oil production.
A Saudi official spoke on condition of anonymity with Indian news site The Week, confirming the summit but providing no details.
This article originally appeared on All Arab News and is reposted with permission.