Discusses New Strategic Partnership for the 21st Century.

(WASHINGTON, DC)  – Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz met with U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday in Washington, D.C., his first visit to the U.S. since ascending to the throne in January. 

The Saudi-U.S. relationship is entering a new period of even greater cooperation and strategic partnership across all sectors of society, spanning the range from technology, to health care, military coordination and beyond. Both leaders tasked officials in their governments to move forward to identify and investigate ways to elevate the bilateral to a new strategic partnership for the 21st century. 

“Our relationship is beneficial not only to our two countries, but to the entire world and to our region. And this is significant, and we must always affirm that and deepen such relations.  We always emphasize that we want to deepen our relations and further our cooperation in all fields,” said King Salman in remarks before the bilateral meeting. 

The two leaders discussed top issues of mutual interest to both countries, including counterterrorism, and specifically, joint efforts to defeat Al-Qaeda, and the coalition campaign to contain and destroy Daesh; the importance of reaching a lasting political solution to the crisis in Syria; the continued push for peace between Palestine and Israel through the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002; the humanitarian situation in Yemen and support of Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi.

On the subject of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action between Iran and the P5+1 countries, King Salman expressed support for the shared goal of preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. The two leaders agreed on the need to improve regional security and shared concern about Iran’s aggressive activities.