UAE

Life and Living

World

Opinion

Business

Sports

Entertainment

Dubai World Cup

lifestyle

Travel

Reviews

Brands

Supplements

KT Events

KT APPDOWNLOAD

Saudi Arabia pulls out all stops for Trump visit

Top Stories

Embracing the bright side: A guide on how to cultivate optimism

The power of solitude: Why you should go on a solo trip

How to get your kids to read: Essential tips for parents
Saudi Arabia pulls out all stops for Trump visit
The kingdom has arranged a dizzying schedule of events for the two days Trump will be in town

Dubai - Saudi Arabia is hosting a summit between visiting US President Donald Trump and Muslim leaders from around the world

By AP/AFP

  • Follow us on
  • google-news
  • whatsapp
  • telegram

Published: Fri 19 May 2017, 11:38 PM

Last updated: Sat 20 May 2017, 1:44 AM

Saudi Arabia is making every effort to dazzle and impress President Donald Trump on his first overseas trip, seizing on the visit to cement itself as a major player on the world stage and shove aside Iran.
The kingdom has arranged a dizzying schedule of events for the two days Trump will be in town - inviting figures as varied as Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir,  Bret Baier, a host on the Fox News Channel that is popular with Trump and his supporters, and American country singer Toby Keith, who is to perform for a male-only crowd in capital, Riyadh.

Saudi summit to boost US-Arab ties

Saudi Arabia is hosting a summit between visiting US President Donald Trump and Muslim leaders from around the world.
Trump, on his first foreign trip since taking office in January, will tell Muslim leaders of his "hopes for a peaceful vision of Islam" as he seeks support for the war against radicals, Washington has said.
Muslim leaders may also be looking for Trump to build bridges after allegations of Islamophobia against his administration and its effort to bar travellers from six Muslim-majority countries.
Leaders and representatives of 55 countries - from the southeast Asian sultanate of Brunei to Africa's Niger and heavyweights including Turkey - have been invited by King Salman for Sunday's summit with Trump.
The summit will be one of three weekend meetings, as Trump holds bilateral talks with top Saudi officials and with leaders of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) which includes Saudi Arabia.
The bilateral summit on Saturday comes with Saudi leaders rebuilding crucial ties with Washington after feeling that Trump's predecessor Barack Obama tilted too much towards Tehran.
The 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers including the United States was a major step towards ending Tehran's international isolation but raised serious concerns in Arab capitals.
Saudi leaders regularly accuse Iran of stirring regional conflicts by supporting sectarian movements in Syria,
Iraq and Bahrain as well as in Yemen. Tehran denies the charges.
Iran, which held a presidential election on Friday pitting moderate incumbent Hassan Rohani against hardline jurist Ebrahim Raisi, is also likely to loom large over Sunday's summit, analysts said.
"This summit has a very clear message to the radical Iranian regime that there will be a global consensus and global agreement between the United States and the Arab and Muslim world," said Salman Al Ansari, president of the Saudi American Public Relation Affairs Committee (SAPRAC), a private initiative to strengthen Saudi-US ties.
Andreas Krieg, of the Defence Studies Department at King's College London, said King Salman is trying to use the US to forge a "pan-Islamic alliance under Saudi leadership. - AFP


More news from