Obama expresses ‘strong’ support for Saudi Vision 2030

US President Barack Obama has met with Saudi Arabian Prince Mohammed bin Salman in Washington, amid growing tensions between the two countries.

“President Obama met this morning in the Oval Office with His Royal Highness Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, to continue discussions begun in April at the US-(Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council (P)GCC Summit in Riyadh,” according to a statement by the White House.

During the meeting held in the White House on Friday, Obama and the Saudi prince discussed a range of issues, including Washington-Riyadh bilateral relations, the Daesh terrorist group and the crisis in Yemen.

“The President commended the Deputy Crown Prince’s commitment to reform Saudi Arabia’s economy and underscored strong US support for achieving the recently-announced Vision 2030 goals,” the statement read.

The Saudi Vision 2030 refers to a sweeping set of programs and reforms recently endorsed by the Saudi cabinet to be implemented by 2030.

Obama also thanked Saudi Arabia for what he called Riyadh’s help to fight Daesh, despite Riyadh’s support for the Takfiri terrorists and other terrorist groups in the region.

“The president expressed appreciation for Saudi Arabia’s contributions to the campaign against ISIL (Daesh)," the statement said.

“They also discussed the important role Saudi Arabia can play in addressing extremist ideology,” it added.

Saudi Arabia is widely viewed as one of the major supporters of Daesh, mainly operating in Syria and Iraq.

SS