[ad_1]
us national security adviser jack sullivan Biden administration officials will arrive in Saudi Arabia on Saturday, the most senior visit by a Biden administration official since the president’s visit in July 2022, following a breakthrough deal between Riyadh and Tehran last March.
Sullivan is expected to meet Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de facto ruler. The two spoke by phone on April 11, and Brett McGurk, the White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, visited last month and looked forward to the visit.
The senior U.S. official will join officials from the United Arab Emirates and India to restore ties with Riyadh and promote regional integration. Speaking at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy on Thursday, Sullivan said he would discuss “new areas of cooperation between New Delhi and the Gulf region, as well as between the United States and other countries in the region.”
A diplomatic source told Al-Monitor that Sheikh Tanub bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE national security adviser and chairman of Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, will attend the talks with Sullivan. India’s national security adviser Ajit Dowa will also attend the talks, the sources said.
The United States, the United Arab Emirates and India are the so-called “I2U2” group, which also includes Israel. The alliance was established in October 2021 to collaborate on joint initiatives in water, energy, transport, space, health and food security. The I2U2 mechanism is also seen as a framework for countering Chinese influence in the region.
However, Israel will not send officials to Riyadh. Saudi Arabia has yet to normalize relations with Israel, and U.S. efforts to do so have stalled as Israeli-Palestinian tensions have risen.
Regional integration
Officials will discuss supply chain diversification and investment in strategic infrastructure projects, including ports, Railroads and MinesBloomberg reported Friday.
The trip also sought to repair tensions between Riyadh and Washington over several issues, including the fallout from Saudi Arabia’s choice of OPEC production cuts and the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a journalist at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Mohammed Soliman, director of the Strategic Technology and Cybersecurity Program at the Middle East Institute, told Al-Monitor that Washington’s trip had two main purposes. One is to show that its relationship with Riyadh remains strong despite recent disagreements. The second is to include Saudi Arabia in Washington’s new approach to integrating South Asia and the Middle East.
“While there is a strategic need for Saudi Arabia to join I2U2 in the long run, it is not required, Because I2U2 is not an end in itself but a format Realize the vision of merging the two regions. More formats will come with I2U2,” Soliman added.
changing landscape
Afshin Moravi, a senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, said the trip will test the U.S. understanding and influence of the new geoeconomic landscape in the Middle East.
“Geopolitics has been the main driver in the Middle East for the last decade or so, but geoeconomics is now an equal driver in some ways. Saudi Arabia is riding that train now, and in some cases , it is the leader,” Moravey told Al-Monitor.
For example, last year’s Jeddah Security and Development Summit brought together the six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), as well as Egypt, Iraq and Jordan. The I2U2 subgroup is another example, and GCC investment in the region is also increasing.
“Jack Sullivan would understand very well that the region’s geoeconomics are on the rise while its geopolitical risks are decelerating,” Moravey said. “Washington should encourage and support this shift and look for creative partnerships to drive it forward.” kind of model.”
He noted that tensions had eased Iran-Saudi Reconciliation, The Euler agreement to end disputes with Qatar and several regional countries, and negotiations to end the war in Yemen.
“Of course, geopolitical risks remain, but Saudi Arabia appears to be headed in a new and different direction, one of downgrading foreign policy and accelerating geoeconomics,” he said, pointing to a dramatic shift.
For too long, Washington has failed to see the region’s enormous potential as an interconnected node of the global economy and a major source of the surplus capital that fuels its growth abroad, Moravey said. The country is also on the verge of producing more copper and green hydrogen, critical to the green energy transition.
“At the same time, we will still need fossil fuels for quite some time, and Saudi Arabia remains the strongest producer,” Moravey added. “Saudi investment in the region can boost development, but most importantly, a less risky regional environment can pave the way for more external investment.”
Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will also visit Saudi Arabia in June to attend a meeting of the global coalition fighting the Islamic State terrorist group, Bloomberg reported on Friday, citing anonymous sources.
[ad_2]
Source link