US state secretary, Saudi Crown Prince tackle regional issues in Jeddah
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – In the early hours on Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken met Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah.
The two officials discussed a series of regional issues with Yemen, Sudan, and Israel on the top, as well as the bilateral relations.
The US State Department Spokesperson Matthew Miller said, “Our bilateral relationship is strengthened by progress on human rights.”
Late on Tuesday, Blinken arrived in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, for a much anticipated visit amid frayed ties due to deepening disagreements on everything from Iran policy to regional security issues, oil prices and human rights.
Blinken’s visit comes at a time of accelerating shifting alliances in the middle east focused on a Chinese-brokered Saudi-Iranian normalization that has been underway since March.
Miller added, “The two affirmed their shared commitment to advance stability, security, and prosperity across the Middle East and beyond.”
On Thursday, Riyadh will be hosting the D-ISIS Ministerial meeting with the participation of the US Secretary of State.
Washington is also hoping to further conversations on the possible and eventual normalization of ties between the kingdom and Israel, while countering expanding Chinese and Russian influence in the region.
Blinken and Bin Salman met for an hour and forty minutes, a US official said, covering many topics including Israel, the conflict in Yemen, unrest in Sudan as well as human rights.
“There was a good degree of convergence on potential initiatives where we share the same interests, while also recognizing where we have differences,” the US official was cited by Reuters as saying.
The Secretary also thanked the Crown Prince for his country’s support evacuating hundreds of US citizens from Sudan, and for the Kingdom’s ongoing partnership in diplomatic negotiations to stop the fighting there.
Blinken is scheduled to attend a ministerial meeting with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries on Wednesday “to discuss growing cooperation with our GCC partners to promote security, stability, de-escalation, regional integration, and economic opportunities across the Middle East.”