The US Secretary arrived in Jeddah on Tuesday evening on the first day of a visit to Saudi Arabia aimed at improving relations between Washington and Riyadh.
A US official announced that US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken discussed with Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman, during a meeting in Jeddah on Tuesday night – Wednesday, several files, including human rights.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that the US Secretary of State and the Saudi crown prince had “open and frank talks, covering various regional and bilateral issues.”
Normalization of relations with Israel
The official added that, during the meeting, Blinken raised the file of “both human rights: the general part and that related to specific issues.”
The same source stated that the meeting, which was held at the royal palace in Jeddah, began around midnight local time and lasted for about an hour and 40 minutes, indicating that during the meeting it became clear that there were a number of points of “convergence with our awareness of those on which we differ.”
According to the US official, the foreign minister and the Saudi crown prince “discussed the possibility of normalizing relations with Israel, and agreed to continue dialogue in this regard.”
The talks also touched on the war in Sudan, where the United States and Saudi Arabia, who are leading joint mediation, have failed to force the parties to the conflict to abide by truces they agree to and then violate.
Improve relations between Washington and Riyadh
For his part, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said in a statement that Blinken and bin Salman reaffirmed their “commitment to stability, security and prosperity in the Middle East and beyond,” including ending the war in Yemen.
The US secretary arrived in Jeddah on Tuesday evening, on the first day of a visit to Saudi Arabia aimed at improving relations between Washington and Riyadh.
From Jeddah, Blinken will head to Riyadh, where he will participate, on Wednesday, in a meeting of foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
On Thursday, Blinken, together with his Saudi counterpart, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, will chair a meeting in Riyadh of the international coalition fighting ISIS. This international coalition was formed in 2014 at the initiative of the United States, and dozens of countries participate in it.
