president of the united states, Joe Biden Finally, he will travel to Saudi Arabia between 15-16 July and meet with Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salmán, Riyadh and White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre confirmed this Tuesday.
The trip is also visit Israel 13 and 14 July -Biden’s first president- Already West Bank, The White House confirmed in a statement.
Jean-Pierre was initially reluctant to confirm the meeting between the two leaders, but eventually acknowledged during a briefing with journalists on the presidential plane this morning that “we can expect the president to meet with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia”.
Biden is currently in Philadelphia to deliver a speech on economic policy at the AFL-CIO’s 29th Four-Year Constitutional Convention, the largest union union in the United States.
until dateThe Joe Biden administration had refused to approve the president’s visit to Saudi Arabia.Although media like The Washington Post had already assumed it would happen in the middle of summer.
Many see the trip as an initiative of the Biden Administration. Closer locations with the world’s leading producer, Saudi Arabia Oil is at a time when sanctions against Russia are affecting the international gasoline market and causing fuel prices to soar.
“Energy security is an important issue, but not the only one,” the spokesperson said on Tuesday, before defending the Arab country’s dominant position in the international oil market.
Jean-Pierre also final extension of the ceasefire Yemen It is an example of “interlocking interests” between the two countries.
In addition to the meeting between Biden and the crown prince, which he did not elaborate, as detailed by the Arab country’s Royal Household andA joint summit will be held on July 16 at the call of Saudi ruler Salman bin Abdulaziz. King of Jordan II. Abdullah, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Iraqi President Barham Salih will also attend the ceremony.
The meeting between Biden and Mohamed bin Salman, a real strongman from Saudi Arabia, will mark a shift in the policy of the US president’s administration since he took power in January 2021, excluding him as an interlocutor. alleged liability. At the death of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Relations between Washington and Riyadh experienced one of their biggest crises after the journalist was killed in 2018 at the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul (Turkey).
KhashoggiThe dissident who lives in the USA and writes a column for The Washington Post, On October 2, 2018, he entered the Consulate General of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul to get the documents he needed to marry his lover Hatice Cengiz, but he never left the building.Even now there is no trace of the remains of his body.
On October 31, 2018, Istanbul Chief Prosecutor İrfan Fidan concluded that the journalist had been strangled and his body dismembered shortly after entering the consulate.
Riyadh admitted that Saudi government agents killed Khashoggi at the consulate in Istanbul and convicted the five people involved, without providing further details on the case.
US intelligence concluded that Bin Salman ordered the killing of Khashoggi, but the prince has always denied any involvement in the case.
The possibility of a face-to-face meeting between Biden and Bin Salman has been discussed for several weeks, given that some human rights organizations warned yesterday Monday that the US president should address the human rights issue, otherwise, it could “further strengthen impunity” in Saudi Arabia. and “encourage new abuses”.