Obama Meets With Saudi Arabia’s King Salman
US President Barack Obama began his fourth visit to Saudi Arabia by meeting with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abd alAziz Al-Saud. The two leaders reaffirmed the historic friendship and deep strategic partnership between the US and Saudi Arabia.
Obama thanked His Majesty and Saudi Arabia for their hospitality and leadership in hosting the April 21 U.S.-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Summit, and the President underscored the importance of accelerating the campaign against ISIL and welcomed Saudi Arabia’s important role in the Coalition, according to the White House.
Additionally, the two leaders also reviewed regional conflicts, with Obama welcoming the recent cessation of hostilities in Yemen and Saudi Arabia King Salman’s commitment to providing humanitarian assistance across all of Yemen.
With respect to Syria, the two leaders discussed the importance of reinforcing the Cessation of Hostilities and committed to supporting a political transition away from Assad.
The Obama and King Salman also exchanged views on the situation in Iraq, with Obama highlighting the importance of stabilizing areas liberated from the Islamic State.
The White House said that both leaders underscored the importance of the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, and underlined the necessity of reaching a comprehensive, just, and lasting settlement to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict based on two states living side-by-side in peace and security.
Taking note of the political uncertainty in Lebanon, they undertook to consider steps to strengthen state institutions.
More broadly, the two leaders discussed the challenges posed by Iran’s provocative activities in the region, agreeing on the importance of an inclusive approach to de-escalating regional conflicts.
Separately, they discussed the political, economic, and social challenges affecting all of the countries of the region, and steps governments could take to better meet their citizens’ political and economic aspirations. In that regard, Obama raised concerns related to human rights, and noted their importance to the United States.
The two leaders agreed that their broad discussions were important to addressing the many issues of concern to the United States and Saudi Arabia.