Jim Rich, senior Republican in the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, called on US President Joe Biden’s administration to strengthen relations with Saudi Arabia as an “important partner” economic and security for Washington.
“For 80 years, Saudi Arabia has been an important partner in supporting shared security and economic interests,” Rich said on Twitter.
He added, “The Biden administration was late in strengthening cooperation with the kingdom.”
In the context, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived, on Tuesday evening, in Saudi Arabia, where he is expected to meet with Saudi officials to discuss Saudi-American strategic cooperation on regional and global issues and a range of bilateral issues, including economic and security cooperation.
Blinken will spend two days in Saudi Arabia, where he will participate in a ministerial meeting of the US Gulf Cooperation Council to discuss cooperation in the field of enhancing security and stability, de-escalation, regional integration and economic opportunities throughout the Middle East.
Blinken, along with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, will also attend a ministerial meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS in Riyadh to highlight the critical role the coalition plays in confronting the ongoing threat of ISIS.
This comes as the US State Department affirmed, on Tuesday, Washington’s commitment to strengthening its security partnership with Saudi Arabia, including defense sales, joint exercises, combating missile proliferation and non-governmental drones.
