US President Joe Biden landed on Friday in Jeddah aboard a historic direct flight from Israel to Saudi Arabia, the latest stop on his first Middle East tour as US leader.
Saudi state media showed images of Air Force One at the airport in the coastal city, making Biden the first US leader to fly directly from Israel to an Arab nation that does not recognise it.
Biden was greeted by Prince Khalid Al Faisal, the governor of Mecca province, where Jeddah is located. Other people in the Saudi greeting party including the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Reema bint Bandar Al Saud.
Biden gave a fist bump to Saudi Crown Prince, Saudi state television showed.
The White House said Biden would hold a bilateral meeting with Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz at the royal palace in Jeddah and then the president and his team would have a working session with Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and Saudi ministers at the palace.
Biden will discuss energy security with leaders of Gulf oil producers and hopes to see more action by Opec+ to boost output, but there were unlikely to be any bilateral announcements from the talks, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters en route to Jeddah from Israel.
“We believe any further action taken to ensure that there is sufficient energy to protect the health of the global economy, it will be done in the context of Opec+,” said Sullivan. “We are hopeful that we will see additional actions by Opec+ in coming weeks.” The Opec+ group that includes Russia meets next on Aug. 3.
