Saudi Arabia : US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for a two-day visit to the kingdom.
Mr Blinken is expected to meet senior Saudi officials and possibly Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during his time in Riyadh and the coastal city of Jeddah.
The trip is the second high-level visit by an American official to the kingdom in a month.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan travelled to Saudi Arabia on May 7.
Mr Blinken is expected to attend the US-Saudi strategic dialogue and a Gulf Co-operation Council meeting to enhance relations between the two sides.
He will participate in a US-GCC ministerial meeting to “discuss the growing co-operation of the Gulf and to promote security, stability, de-escalation, regional integration, and economic opportunities across the Middle East”, the US State Department has said.
The officials are set to discuss US-Saudi co-operation on a regional and global level. Bilateral issues such as economic and security co-operation will also feature high on the agenda, it said.
On Thursday, he will co-host the meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan.
The main aim of the meeting will be to “promote security, stability, de-escalation, regional integration and economic opportunities across the Middle East”, the State Department said.
Mr Blinken is planning a trip to China, which helped broker a deal between Saudi Arabia and Iran in March, Reuters reported, citing a US official.
