Saudi Arabia’s Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with President Obama on Friday at the White House to discuss regional and economic issues with the President, Vice President and other members of Obama’s cabinet.
The President “commended” Prince Mohammed’s “Vision 2030” plans to reform Saudi Arabia’s economy and society, according to a readout.
Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the White House on Friday.
“The President commended the Deputy Crown Prince’s commitment to reform Saudi Arabia’s economy and underscored strong U.S. support for achieving the recently-announced Vision 2030 goals. The Deputy Crown Prince underscored Saudi Arabia’s strong support for the Paris Agreement and welcomed cooperation with the United States on clean energy issues. The President and Deputy Crown Prince reaffirmed the strategic partnership between the United States and Saudi Arabia,” the readout said.
The two leaders also met “to continue discussions begun in April at the U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit in Riyadh,” the White House said. “The President expressed appreciation for Saudi Arabia’s contributions to the campaign against ISIL. Reviewing recent Iraqi gains against ISIL, the President and Deputy Crown Prince discussed steps to support the Iraqi people, including increased Gulf support to fund urgent humanitarian and stabilization needs. On Syria, they reaffirmed the importance of supporting the cessation of hostilities and a political transition away from Asad. The President and Deputy Crown Prince also agreed to build support for Libya’s Government of National Accord. With regard to Yemen, the President welcomed Saudi Arabia’s commitment to concluding a political settlement of the conflict and of GCC support to address urgent humanitarian needs and rebuild the country. More broadly, the President and Deputy Crown Prince discussed Iran’s destabilizing activities and agreed to explore avenues that could lead to a de-escalation of tensions. They also discussed the important role Saudi Arabia can play in addressing extremist ideology.”
The President commended Prince Mohammed’s ‘Vision 2030’ plans to reform Saudi Arabia’s economy and society, according to a readout.
Prince Mohammed also met separately with members of President Obama’s National Economic Council, where he won support from U.S. officials for his economic reform plan, according to a separate White House statement.
“U.S. officials welcomed Saudi Arabia’s commitment to economic reform and underscored the United States’ desire to be a key partner in helping Saudi Arabia implement its ambitious economic reform program. Both sides agreed on the importance of economic diversification, expanding private sector employment opportunities, renewable and natural gas development, and the beneficial role U.S. companies could play in implementing Saudi reform objectives. The United States and Saudi Arabia intend to build on these conversations in the coming months, consistent with the strong partnership between our countries and the mutual benefit in further deepening our economic ties.”
The positive reaction from the executive branch followed similar praise from Congress. Leaders on Capitol Hill praised the Prince’s efforts in support of ambitious Saudi economic reforms during meetings on Wednesday with Senate Foreign Relations Committee members and other congressional leaders.
The Deputy Crown Prince’s visit to Washington concluded on Saturday, when he departed for San Francisco for meetings with Silicon Valley and entertainment industry executives.
The 31-year old prince is traveling with other top economic leaders in Saudi Arabia including Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Khalid Al-Falih, Minister of Finance Ibrahim Al-Assaf, Minister of Commerce and Investment Majed Al-Qasabi, and head of the newly-created Public Investment Fund (PIF), Yasir Al-Rumayyan, and others.
Saudi Arabia recently invested $3.5 billion from the PIF into Uber Technologies, Inc., the ride-sharing app that has found early success in Saudi Arabia. As part of the deal, Al-Rumayyan will serve on Uber’s board of directors.
“[Prince Mohammed’s] visit to San Francisco seeks to boost links between Silicon Valley and the Kingdom with new high-tech projects and solutions. The aim is to create one of the most advanced technology sectors in Saudi Arabia itself,” writes Theodore Karasik in Al Arabiya. “The Kingdom seeks to be the number one importer of US high technology, in addition to making the best use of American know-how in the high-tech sector to help meet the goals of Vision 2030’s digital economy. It also stimulates other industrial sectors such as industrial equipment, communications and information technology, which in turn aims to create more job opportunities in the Kingdom.”
