Romanian interior minister makes first official visit to Saudi Arabia

Interior minister Cătălin Predoiu made an official visit to Saudi Arabia on Monday, October 20, to meet Saudi counterpart Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Nayef Al Saud. The visit, a first for a Romanian interior minister, is “an important step for cooperation in the fields of security, innovation, and artificial intelligence,” according to Predoiu.

“Honored to meet HRH Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Nayef Al Saud, Minister of Interior of Saudi Arabia. First official visit of a Romanian Minister of Interior to the Kingdom,” minister Predoiu wrote on X.

The two officials talked about cooperation in combating drugs, terrorism, illegal migration, and transnational organized crime, before moving on to strategies for using digitalization and artificial intelligence in the field of internal affairs, safety, and public order, as well as civil services.

“Within the broad framework of the field of Internal Affairs, we also discussed increasing the integration of civil defense and emergency response capabilities. [...] The Saudi side agreed to unblock the finalization of cooperation agreements in the aforementioned areas, projects that are in the final stage of technical negotiations between the working teams of the two ministries,” Predoiu said.

"We also agreed to launch a high-level bilateral consultation mechanism within the counterpart ministries of internal affairs," added the minister on LinkedIn.

Predoiu emphasized the multidimensional relations between Romania and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and underlined Romania’s geostrategic position on the eastern border of the European Union, as well as the stabilizing role of Saudi Arabia in the region.

He stressed the Romanian experience in strengthening cybersecurity and combating transnational crime, as well as developing capacities in the field of civil protection and emergency management, including through the use of the experience of the RO-Alert system.

On the other side, Predoiu praised the projects implemented by the Ministry of Interior of Saudi Arabia, including the intelligent Lucid Air vehicle integrated into the police fleet and equipped with artificial intelligence, the virtual police centers, the “Smart Gates” project and the digital infrastructure at international airports, the Absher and Estishraf platforms that facilitate citizens’ access to government services, as well as the innovation and digital security hub.