US President Joe Biden’s national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, will reportedly travel to Saudi Arabia this weekend and he will be followed by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, in a new sign of the US administration’s determination to cement ties with the Kingdom, according to Bloomberg.
Sullivan will meet with his counterparts from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and India during his visit, added Bloomberg.
An American official expected Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to receive the high-ranking US official during this visit.
Blinken also plans to visit Saudi Arabia in June for a meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS, the terrorist group.
The US Department of State and the National Security Council declined to comment on the news.
Sullivan’s meeting will mark the first of its kind between officials of the US, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and India.
Key themes will be diversifying supply chains and investments in strategic infrastructure projects, including ports, rail, and minerals, one of the people said.
Bloomberg reported that the consecutive trips by high-level US officials highlight that the administration is determined to bolster the ties between Washington and Riyadh.
Sullivan spoke to the Saudi Crown Prince on April 11, noting progress to end the war in Yemen and Saudi Arabia’s “extraordinary efforts” there, according to a White House statement.
The US has also been working closely with Saudi Arabia in Sudan.
Biden thanked Riyadh saying the Kingdom was “critical to the success of our operation to extract US government personnel from Khartoum.”
