Belgium and Saudi Arabia reach deal on Brussels mosque

Saudi Arabia has agreed to hand over control of Brussels' Great Mosque to a Belgian authority - in a move that aims to "promote tolerance and inclusion".

The announcement was made on Tuesday after an hour-long meeting in Brussels between Belgian foreign minister Didier Reynders and his Saudi counterpart Adal Al-Jubeir.

Reynders said: "Belgium can take over the management of this Great Mosque and entrust it to a local Muslim authority, probably the Muslim Executive of Belgium. Now it is up to the interior and justice ministries to work together to make this happen."

Al-Jubeir added: "Our policy is to do this with the full agreement of the Belgian government to ensure that everything is done with full transparency and in a way that promotes tolerance and inclusion."

It remains unclear how the mosque will be financed in the future. "Transparency on financing must be total," Reynders added.

Last July, one of the experts on the parliamentary investigative committee into the 2016 Brussels terror attacks recommended that the mosque be brought back under Belgian control, via the Muslim Executive of Belgium.

Since 1967, the mosque has been connected to the Saudi Arabia-based Muslim World League - and discussions about a change of control had been a diplomatically delicate issue.