Saudi Crown Prince meets with US Secretary of State, Blinken, to discuss regional cooperation and security partnership

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met, at the Peace Palace in Jeddah, on Tuesday night, with US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken.

During the meeting, they reviewed the bilateral relations between the two friendly countries, aspects of cooperation in various fields and ways to enhance it, in addition to discussing developments in the regional and international situation and the efforts made in this regard, according to the Saudi Press Agency (SPA).

The meeting was attended by Princess Rima bint Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, Ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to the United States of America, Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Minister of State, Member of the Council of Ministers, National Security Adviser, Dr. Musaed bin Muhammad Al-Aiban.

On the American side, Anthony Blinken’s advisor Derek Chollet, US Ambassador to the Kingdom Michael Ratney, Assistant Secretary of State Barbara Leaf, and Anthony Blinken’s Deputy Chief of Staff Tom Sullivan attended.

BLINKIN reception in Jeddah

Blinken arrived, on Tuesday evening, in Saudi Arabia, and will meet with Saudi officials to discuss Saudi-American strategic cooperation on regional and global issues and a range of bilateral issues, including economic and security cooperation.

Blinkin in Jeddah

Blinken will spend two days in Saudi Arabia and participate in a ministerial meeting of the US Gulf Cooperation Council to discuss cooperation in the field of enhancing security and stability, de-escalation, regional integration and economic opportunities throughout the Middle East.

Blinken, along with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, will also attend a ministerial meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in Riyadh to highlight the critical role the coalition plays in confronting the ongoing threat of ISIS.

This comes as the US State Department affirmed, on Tuesday, Washington’s commitment to strengthening its security partnership with Saudi Arabia, including defense sales, joint exercises, combating missile proliferation and non-governmental drones.

In a statement on relations between Washington and Riyadh, ahead of Blinken’s visit to the Kingdom, the ministry said that cooperation with Saudi Arabia in order to ensure regional stability “remains one of the pillars of our bilateral relationship.”

She added that the security partnership between the two countries is based on “our common interest in the security of the Gulf region and preventing any foreign or regional power from threatening the region.”

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