Hopes high for US-GCC summit

Washington : Preparations are in full swing for the much anticipated visit of the US President Donald Trump to the Middle East, with the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declaring the trip as “the return of a vital US leadership role”.

Governments in the Middle East, Asia and Africa were, he argued, stung by the “neglect and outright dismissal” of their concerns under the previous US administration.

“They’re ready to re-engage with America,” he told reporters. “And that is the purpose of this trip -- it is really one of conveying the message that ‘America is back’.”

Under Trump, he said, the United States will once again act as a “facilitator,” uniting and leading friendly nations in the war against “global terrorism.”

“This is not a battle about religions. This is not a battle about cultures. This is a battle about good and evil,” he said, shortly before joining the president for the trip.

“I just actually returned from a trip I took to Jordan and Saudi Arabia, and they are so looking forward in that part of the world to the arrival of the president,” he said.

Trump and Tillerson are due in Saudi Arabia this weekend for talks with the king and his government and to attend a conference of dozens of leaders from the Muslim world.

After Riyadh, they are due in Jerusalem for meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, before travelling on to the Vatican and the NATO and G7 summits in Europe.

GCC Ministerial Council

Meanwhile, under the chairmanship of Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa the Ministerial Council of the GCC foreign Ministers held their 143rd session in Riyadh to prepare for the 17th GCC leaders’ consultative meeting and the USA-GCC Summit. 

Expressing his hope for a successful meeting, Shaikh Khalid, in his opening remarks, said, “This is also in order for the GCC states to achieve further unity and cohesion, enhance their accomplishments, preserve their safety and develop their gains to meet the aspirations and hopes of the GCC peoples”. 

To Bethlehem 

Palestine Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki, in Muscat, said they are taking seriously Donald Trump’s efforts to help resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict, ahead of the US president’s visit to the West Bank next week.

He was speaking in Muscat where he was accompanying Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas as part of a regional tour prior to the Arab-Islamic-American summit in Riyadh on Sunday.

“Abu Mazen stressed Trump’s seriousness in settling the Palestinian issue” after they met in Washington this month, said the minister, referring to Abbas by his Arabic nickname.

“The US president assured him he will be able to find a settlement within one year,” he added.

Trump’s visit to Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday is expected to last a few hours.

It will be part of his first trip abroad since his inauguration in January.

The tour, which begins on Saturday in Saudi Arabia, will take him to Israel and the West Bank and then to the Vatican.