The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Washington is working to organize a visit by crown prince Mohammed bin Salman to the United States in early March, the first trip to the U.S. since he became crown prince last year, according to reports.
Rumors of a forthcoming visit by the powerful crown prince have surfaced in recent months, but the exact timing of the visit as well as length and whether he would travel outside of Washington is still not publicly confirmed.
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at Facebook Headquarters in June 2016.
However, a recent report by Al Monitor said that the visit will be in early March and may include visits to Boston, San Francisco, New York, and Houston, as well as to Washington, D.C.
According to the Al Monitor report, the visit “aims to demonstrate that Riyadh is open for business after Mohammed led a purge of more than 40 members of the royal family last year…Each stop along the way is meant to build high-level links with America’s leading industries, from higher education at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology outside Boston to energy production in Houston. In New York, he is expected to address the possibility of listing state oil company Saudi Aramco on the New York Stock Exchange. Getting buy-in from the world-beating US tech sector will also be a key focus of the trip: Mohammed aims to sign a deal with Google parent company Alphabet to build a large technology center in the Gulf country, the Wall Street Journal reported today.”
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will visit Britain and France first in late February.
The Crown Prince’s visit across the U.S. will precede a later visit by King Salman this year, following the commitment to do so on a call with President Trump in September 2017.
