Blinken, Saudi Crown Prince meet in Jeddah

WASHINGTON

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman in Jeddah, the State Department said on Tuesday.

“The Secretary expressed appreciation for Saudi Arabia’s leadership in hosting the D-ISIS Ministerial and stressed our joint continued efforts to fight terrorism,” said spokesperson Matthew Miller in a statement.

“The two affirmed their shared commitment to advance stability, security, and prosperity across the Middle East and beyond, including through a comprehensive political agreement to achieve peace, prosperity, and security in Yemen,” said Miller.

“The Secretary also emphasized that our bilateral relationship is strengthened by progress on human rights.”

The two men also discussed deepening economic cooperation, especially in the clean energy and technology fields.

Blinken also thanked the Crown Prince for Saudi Arabia’s support in evacuating US citizens from Sudan, and for the Kingdom’s ongoing partnership in diplomatic negotiations to stop the fighting there.

Blinken is scheduled on Wednesday to attend a ministerial meeting with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries “to discuss growing cooperation with our GCC partners to promote security, stability, de-escalation, regional integration, and economic opportunities across the Middle East.”

Blinken and Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan will co-host another ministerial meeting on Thursday in the Saudi capital Riyadh on the international coalition to defeat the Daesh/ISIS terrorist organization.