(AFP) – Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat held talks in Washington on Wednesday as he lays the groundwork for a visit by US President Donald Trump, which would be the first foreign trip of his second term. Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan met at the State Department with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with the two not making any remarks.
Last month, Trump said he may visit Saudi Arabia as early as April in a reprisal of 2017, when the oil-rich, conservative kingdom was the first destination of his first term in office. The foreign minister’s visit is aimed to “prepare for Trump’s visit to Riyadh,” a source close to the Saudi government said. The source, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, said “developments in Gaza, Yemen and Syria” were also on Prince Faisal’s agenda.
In January, Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, promised to pile $600 billion into US trade and investments. Trump later said Saudi Arabia had agreed to “spend close to a trillion dollars… in our American companies, which to me means jobs.”
Trump forged close relations with Riyadh in his first term and is expected to push Saudi Arabia, home of Islam’s holiest sites, towards normalizing ties with Israel as a major foreign policy objective. Trump in his first term also boasted of having protected Crown Prince Mohammed from greater repercussions over the killing of Saudi dissident writer and US resident Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
© 2024 AFP
