Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, July 16, 2022 (AFP) – US President Joe Biden told Arab leaders on Saturday that Washington will remain fully committed to the Middle East and will not leave its influence to other world powers.
“We will not go, we will not leave a vacuum that China, Russia or Iran can fill,” Biden said in his speech at the Saudi Arabian summit in Jeddah on the Red Sea coast.
The summit, which is the last stop of Biden’s Middle East tour, brings together six members of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Egypt, Jordan and Iraq.
At 13:45 GMT (10:45 GMT), Biden completed the less than 24 hour visit and left Saudi Arabia aboard Air Force One.
Biden intended to take advantage of the trip to reveal his views on Washington’s role in the region, so as not to give up its influence on Russia and China.
On Friday, he met with King Salman of Saudi Arabia and the ‘de facto’ Saudi ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. US intelligence agencies said they “confirmed” the 2018 operation that killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
In remarks on Friday, Biden described Khashoggi’s death as “outrageous” and said he had warned Prince Bin Salman against further attacks on dissidents, without specifying what measures he would take.
On Saturday, the crown prince chaired the opening session of the summit, which King Salman did not attend.
Bin Salman denies any involvement in the death of Khashoggi, who was killed in the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul. His remains were never found.
In his speech on Saturday, Biden told Arab leaders gathered at the summit that “the future will be conquered by countries that unleash the full potential of their populations.” […]a place where citizens can question and criticize leaders without fear of retaliation”.
– Tension for Ukraine – Biden has promised a billion-dollar package for food security in the Middle East and North Africa, which has been threatened since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Moscow’s military offensive in the former Soviet republic has exposed an unimaginable divide between Washington and its key Middle Eastern allies – Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – and the increasingly independent oil giants on the international scene.
Rich Gulf states that host American troops and have supported Washington for decades have refrained from supporting the Biden administration in its attempt to isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Analysts say that this new stance represents a turning point in the relations between the US and the Gulf.
On Saturday, Biden invited his UAE counterpart, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, to visit Washington before the end of this year, as a gesture of rapprochement.
In his keynote speech at the summit, Mohammed bin Salman said he hoped the meeting would “serve to usher in a new era of joint cooperation”. […] serve our common interests and promote security and development in this vital region for the entire world”.
– ‘Strategic cooperation’ -Saudi Arabia and the USA signed 18 agreements yesterday in areas such as energy, space, health and investment.
The two countries “reaffirmed their commitment to the stability of world energy markets, emphasizing the importance of strategic economic and investment cooperation, especially in light of the current crisis in Ukraine and its repercussions,” he said.
Saudi Arabia has agreed to connect the Gulf Cooperation Council countries’ electricity grids to Iraq, which is heavily dependent on energy from Iran, “to provide Iraq and its people with new and diversified sources of electricity”.
Washington wants the world’s largest oil exporter to turn on the taps to lower fuel prices and thereby lower inflation in his country.
But on Friday, Biden lowered expectations that the trip could benefit immediately.
“I’m doing everything I can to increase supply to the US,” he said, but added that “a few weeks” concrete results won’t be seen.
– Relations with Israel – The White House took advantage of the trip to promote integration between Israel and Arab countries.
Saudi Arabia did not want to be part of the US-backed Abraham Accords, which ensured Israel’s ties with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain in 2020.
Riyadh has signaled that it will maintain the Arab League’s traditional stance of not engaging with Israel as long as the conflict with the Palestinians continues. But the Gulf monarchy gave the Jewish nation signs of openness.
On Friday, he announced the lifting of extreme flight restrictions for planes traveling to and from Israel, in a move that Biden has called “historic”. Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid went further, saying it was “the first official step towards normalization”. [das relações] with Saudi Arabia”.
At a press conference on Saturday, the kingdom’s foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, stressed however, that the decision announced this week regarding Saudi airspace is not a sign of improving relations between Riyadh and Israel.
“This has nothing to do with diplomatic relations with Israel,” Prince Farhan said at a press conference, emphasizing that “it is by no means an impetus for further steps.”
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source: Noticias
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