Riyadh Meeting and Saudi-U.S. Relations

The custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin AbdulAziz, and U.S. President Barack Obama met in London on the sidelines of the G-20 summit. I believe that their upcoming meeting on June 3 will be different from its predecessor.

This does not diminish, of course, the importance of the London meeting as a first meeting between the two leaders, and the fact that it focused around the theme of the conference itself. In addition to common topics, ways to tackle the economic crisis dominated that meeting. Remarkably, however, tomorrow’s meeting between the two leaders in Riyadh during a special visit is Obama’s first visit to the Kingdom. This important meeting will be preceded by a speech, which Obama intends to call on the Islamic world from Cairo on Thursday, June 4.

I think that there are a number of important topics to discuss in Riyadh; from oil to terrorism and the files of Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan to the issue of peace and Obama’s speech in Egypt the next day.

Obama’s important visit to Riyadh before his speech is expected to review the American perception of the peace process and the new track of U.S. relations with Islamic world. It seems that the American idea for peace will include the Arab initiative, which was originally the initiative of the King of Saudi Arabia in 2002.

King Abdullah’s point of view before that speech is important for the United States. Without the support of Riyadh, future ideas to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict will not succeed. There is no need to emphasize the need to consult with the king on the policies and plans forwarded by Obama since he took command of the new U.S. administration.

I believe that the Riyadh meeting will enter the history of Saudi–American relations, especially because there are similarities with the historic meeting that brought the late King Abdul Aziz and U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt together in Egypt on the cruiser Quincy in February 1945. It is the famous historic meeting in which the Palestinian issue was discussed; the same subject which seems to be the overriding theme of tomorrow`s meeting.