RIYADH, June 3: President Barack Obama began his latest bid to repair ties with the Muslim world on Wednesday by seeking the counsel of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.
“The United States and Saudi Arabia have a long history of friendship. We have a strategic relationship,” Obama said as he visited the king’s desert horse farm.
The US president called Abdullah wise and gracious, adding: “I am confident that working together the United States and Saudi Arabia can make progress on a whole host of issues of mutual interest.”
In turn, King Abdullah expressed his “best wishes to the friendly American people who are represented by a distinguished man who deserves to be in this position.”
Saudi Arabia is a stopover en route to Cairo, where Mr Obama is set to deliver a speech that he’s been promising since last year’s election campaign — aiming to set a new tone in America’s often-strained dealings with the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims.
With the Saudi king alongside him, Obama told reporters: “I thought it was very important to come to the place where Islam began and to seek his majesty’s counsel and to discuss with him many of the issues that we confront here in the Middle East.”
The talks focussed on Middle East peace efforts, energy issues and other regional topics, aides said, adding that Obama and the king broke off into a private session that lasted at least two hours.
The US president was expected to raise with King Abdullah a host of problems ranging from Arab-Israeli peace efforts to Iran’s nuclear programme. The surge in oil prices also was on the agenda. Crude topped $68 a barrel this week, sparking fears that a fresh jump in energy costs could snuff out early sparks of a recovery from a deep global slump.
Obama’s meeting with the 84-year-old Abdullah was his second in three months. The two saw each other at the G-20 summit in London.—AFP Syed Rashid Husain in Riyadh adds: Earlier, Mr Obama was accorded a red carpet welcome when he landed here on a dry, windy afternoon with Saudi and US flags fluttering in the major streets of Riyadh.
King Abdullah and virtually the entire Saudi cabinet and important royal family members were at the Riyadh airport to receive the US president. The king greeted Obama at Riyadh’s main airport with a ceremony. The national anthems of both countries were played, the Saudi national guard was on hand and there was a 21-gun salute.
Source: Pakistan Dawn
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