New Delhi: US President Joe Biden on Friday arrived in Saudi Arabia from Israel on their first official visit to the country, local tv media reported.
Biden is scheduled to meet with King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud at the Peace Palace in Jeddah in the evening. The president is also set to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Friday. It’s not ruled out that the prince could attend Biden’s meeting with the king.
Regional and international analysts agree that Biden’s visit to the kingdom signals Washington’s desire to restore good relations with Riyadh and regain the lost balance.
The US is Saudi Arabia’s largest trading partner, and Saudi Arabia is the largest US export market in the Middle East. The United States and Saudi Arabia have a history of technical and educational exchange which has benefited both nations, and the longstanding security relationship continues to be important.
Saudi Arabia and the US are strategic allies, and since President Obama took office in 2009, the US has sold $110 billion in arms to Saudi Arabia and Saudi Arabia has since become the world’s second-largest oil producer (behind the US), and the world’s largest oil exporter, controlling the world’s second-largest oil reserves and the fourth-largest gas reserves.
(Vinayak)