Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia will represent the Kingdom at the G20 in Indonesia at this year’s meetings, and will visit other Asian countries as part of the trip, state news agency SPA reported.
The Crown Prince left the Kingdom on Monday.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and President Joe Biden.
President Joseph Biden, whose party outperformed expectations in the recent U.S. midterm elections and is in position to have one of the four best midterms for the party controlling the White House in the last century, will attend the G20 after attending the COP 27 events in Egypt.
Biden does not plan a sit-down meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Friday.
Biden did meet today with Chinese leader Xi Jinping for a reported three-hour face-to-face meeting, delivering on a promise from both sides to bolster communication between the two global superpowers. However, statements following the meeting reveal that the U.S. and China remain at odds over numerous issues, despite pledges to move forward on working together on a range of issues including climate change, health and food security.
Biden told a news conference after his first face-to-face talks with Xi that they had blunt talks over a wide array of issues that are contributing to the worst U.S.-Chinese ties in decades.
Meanwhile, plans for a visit by Xi to Saudi Arabia in December are continuing to develop, with a focus on strengthening trade ties and regional security, according to Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State Adel Al-Jubeir. The visit comes at a time of strained government-to-government relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States.
According to Reuters, Jubeir did not give details of the trip but said visits between Chinese and Saudi leaders were “natural,” adding, “China is Saudi Arabia’s largest trading partner, we have huge investments in China and the Chinese have huge investments in Saudi Arabia…We have huge equities at stake and these visits are not uncommon. The same with our other trading partners and strategic partners whether it is the United States, the UK, France, Germany, this is what countries do.”
