Canada, Saudi Arabia name new ambassadors in move to restore full diplomatic ties – National

Canada will restore full diplomatic relations with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Ottawa announced Wednesday.

The move comes after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with Saudi Prince Mohammed Bin Salman on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum in Bangkok last November.

A push to normalize ties with Saudi Arabia follows a blow-up of relations in 2018.

Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador and instituted a ban on trade between the nations after Canada’s embassy in Riyadh issued a tweet in Arabic urging the release of women’s rights activists held in the country.

As Global News reported at the time from hundreds of pages of emails and memos released through access to information laws, the ensuing diplomatic feud left Canadian officials reeling and scrambling to make sense of the Saudi response.

That event preceded the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, which was widely condemned by Canada and other Western countries.

Jean-Philippe Linteau, formerly Canada’s consul general in Dubai, will serve as ambassador to Saudi Arabia, according to a statement from Global Affairs Canada.

— with files from Reuters

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