JEDDAH - The White House on Thursday announced that the US President Donald Trump will visit Saudi Arabia soon, making the kingdom as his first foreign trip as head of the United States, Al Arabiya News reported.
Trump said he would begin to construct a new foundation to combat “terrorism” in the trip. The US president will also visit Israel and the Vatican. Trump will add the three stops to an already announced visit to NATO and G7 summits in Brussels and Sicily later this month. “My first foreign trip as president of the United States will be to Saudi Arabia, then Israel, and then to a place that my cardinals love very much, Rome,” Trump said.
White House officials said representatives of other Arab Gulf countries will also be gathering during Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia. White House officials said that Trump’s visit aims on countering Iran and ISIS. President Trump will use his first trip overseas as president to build support for the fight against terrorism, while showing that his America First strategy is compatible with US global leadership, White House officials explained.
“I think what the president has demonstrated already and will be able to demonstrate even further on this trip is that America First is fully compatible with American leadership in the world,” said one of the senior officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Trump’s Saudi visit follows the visit of Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, second deputy premier and minister of defense, to the United States. During the visit, the Deputy Crown Prince held wide ranging talks with Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on March 14. This was the first meeting of Trump at the White House with a high-ranking official from the Arab and Islamic world after assuming the presidency on Jan. 20. This showed the paramount importance attached by the Trump Administration to the leading role being played by the Kingdom in the Arab and Islamic world as well as the strong ties that bind the two countries for several decades.
Deputy Crown Prince Muhammad was the fifth world leader who had an official meeting with Trump at the White House since his inauguration. This also signaled that the Trump Administration holds the Saudi leadership in high esteem. Their talks focused on a number of key issues, apart from further bolstering the strategic bilateral relations between the two countries and take these ties to further heights. The talks showed the identical views of both the nations toward the major global and regional issues. Trump and Prince Muhammad underscored the need for intensifying efforts to combat terror. The leaders vowed to build a new strategic partnership and bring about qualitative leap in fighting terror funding and combat terror ideologies.
The leaders shared identical views with regard to the Iranian file. Trump lauded the measures that have been taken by the Kingdom to counter the intervention of Iran in the internal affairs of the nations in the region. During the historic meeting, the Trump Administration reiterated its keenness on further strengthening the Kingdom’s potential in security and defense fields with a pledge of commitment to support it in this area. The talks also figured the economic strategic partnership between the two countries and further enhancing it with exploring new avenues and opportunities.
Commenting on the meeting, a senior adviser to Prince Mohammed said in a statement issued then: “This meeting is considered a historical turning point in relations between both countries and which had passed through a period of divergence of views on many issues. But the meeting today restored issues to their right path and formed a big change in relations between both countries in political, military, security and economic issues.”
Prince Muhammad hailed Trump as a true friend of Muslims, according to the statement. “President Trump has an unprecedented and serious intention to work with the Muslim world and to achieve its interests and Prince Mohammed considers his Excellency as a true friend of Muslims. President Trump expressed his deep respect for the religion of Islam, considering it one of the divine religions that came with great human principles kidnapped by radical groups.”
