SHAFAQNA- USA’s President Joe Biden’s first visit to the Middle East is scheduled for 13-16 July after he has already made five overseas trips elsewhere. This illustrates the declining position of the region in US foreign policy, compared with his predecessor Donald Trump, whose first foreign visit as president was to Saudi Arabia in May 2017. This was a break from all USA’s presidents who preceded him.
The White House and the Saudi Royal Court confirmed last Tuesday that Biden will make an official visit to the Kingdom at the invitation of King Salman, who he will meet on the first day along with de facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, who is also Minister of Defence. Biden will participate in a joint summit on the following day at the invitation of the Saudi monarch alongside the leaders of the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, King Abdullah II of Jordan and Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi. This will be the largest Arab-American summit since the start of Biden’s presidency in January 2021.
The agenda for Biden’s meeting with King Salman and his son will focus on security, military and commercial cooperation, investments, the Yemen war, energy security, oil production and environmental challenges.
However, Saudi Arabia, the Biden administration and everyone else knows that the main objective of the US president’s visit is to convince Riyadh to boost its oil production. In the process, Biden also hopes to convince the Saudis and the Gulf states to reach a rapprochement with Russia, and to reassure his allies about Washington’s commitment to their security. Initiatives covering investments, cooperation, Iran’s nuclear programme, the Houthis, and Iran’s allies and proxies in the region may also be thrown into the mix.
This difficult reality has forced Biden to change his position on Saudi Arabia from not dealing with it directly and only communicating with King Salman, to planning to visit Riyadh and meet with Bin Salman, who he has avoided since the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul. Biden has had to bend after being reassured by the Saudis that they are willing to cooperate with Washington.
Source: middleeastmonitor