US President Joe Biden will visit Saudi Arabia on Friday to strengthen ties with the country. He will talk there with Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman about energy, human rights and security in the Middle East, the news agency writes. Reuters.
Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia feels uncomfortable, as the US president previously said he would make the country a “pariah”. He made that statement after the murder of a Saudi journalist from The Washington PostJamal Khashoggi.
US intelligence agencies claim that Khashoggi was killed on the orders of Bin Salman, but the crown prince denies that. Biden said ahead of his trip to the Middle East that he will not ignore the subject of human rights. Still, he declined to promise whether he will discuss Khashoggi’s death with the Saudis.
In the run-up to today’s visit, the president wrote an opinion piece The Washington Post, in which he writes that a stable Middle East is in the interest of the United States. American media write that in the context of high energy prices and inflation, Biden has no choice but to strengthen ties with Riyadh.
Biden paid a visit to East Jerusalem in Israel on Friday morning before leaving for the Saudi city of Jeddah. There he promised to allocate more than 300 million dollars (298 million euros) in American aid to the Palestinians in Israel.
The US president wants to restore ties with the Palestinian Authority, including through a meeting with his counterpart Mahmoud Abbas. The aid package includes $100 million for hospitals and healthcare in East Jerusalem. The package still needs to be approved by Congress in Washington.