RIYADH, Saudi Arabia : US President Joe Biden will discuss energy supply, human rights, and security cooperation in Saudi Arabia on Friday on a trip designed to reset the U.S. relationship with a country he once pledged to make a “pariah” on the world stage.
The White House said Biden would hold a bilateral meeting with Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz at the royal palace in Jeddah and then the president and his team would have a working session with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known as MbS, and Saudi ministers at the palace.
Energy and security interests prompted the president and his aides to decide not to isolate the kingdom, the world’s top oil exporter and regional powerhouse that has been strengthening ties with Russia and China.
A U.S. official was quoted by Reuters news agency on Friday as saying that Washington is not expecting Saudi Arabia to immediately boost oil production and that the United States was eyeing what the OPEC+ group decides in its next meeting on Aug. 3.
The visit will be closely watched for body language and rhetoric. U.S. intelligence concluded that MbS directly approved the 2018 murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, while the crown prince denies having a role in the killing.
White House advisers have declined to say whether Biden will shake hands with the prince, the kingdom’s de facto ruler. Biden will meet with a broader set of Arab leaders at a summit in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah on Saturday.
