Joe Biden with Saudi Crown Prince MBS (official White House Twitter)
The Leaders of the United States and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Countries met Saturday in Saudi Arabia at the Jeddah Security and Development Summit. President Joe Biden attended the summit, traveling to Saudi Arabia straight from his visit to Israel last week.
President Biden welcomed the announcement that some GCC partners plan to invest a total of $3 billion in projects that align with U.S. Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) goals to invest in critical infrastructure in low- and middle-income countries, including through investing in projects that advance climate and energy security and digital connectivity, and that strengthen and diversity global supply chains.
Both the Jordanian government and the Palestinian Authority (PA) expressed their pleasure with the summit’s declarations regarding Muslim holy sites in Jerusalem.
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President Biden addressed the Summit. “The United States is invested in building a positive future of the region, in partnership with all of you—and the United States is not going anywhere,” he said.
“I look forward to seeing what’s coming in the coming months,” added President Biden.
President Biden expressed appreciation for the GCC countries’ pledge to provide $100 million for the East Jerusalem Hospital Network, which provides life-saving healthcare to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.
A joint statement was released by the parties after the meeting which said that the leaders affirmed their commitment to joint cooperation to bolster global economic recovery efforts, address the economic repercussions caused by the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, ensure the resiliency of supply chains and the security of food and energy supplies, develop clean energy sources and technologies, and assist countries in need by helping address their humanitarian and relief needs.
In this context, the United States welcomed the decision by the Arab Coordination Group (ACG), which includes ten Arab and national specialized financial developmental institutions, to provide a minimum of $10 billion USD in response to food security challenges regionally and internationally, in line with the objectives of the U.S.-led Roadmap for Global Food Security — Call to Action. The leaders also welcomed the United States’ announcement of $1 billion in new acute humanitarian and near to long term food security assistance for the Middle East and North Africa region.
On the Palestinian issue, King Abdullah II of Jordan said, “To ensure the success of the regional partnerships that we seek, economic cooperation must include our brothers in the Palestinian National Authority. And here, we must reaffirm the importance of reaching a just and comprehensive solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, on the basis of the two-state solution; for there can be no security, stability, nor prosperity in the region without a solution guaranteeing the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 4 June 1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital, living side-by-side with Israel in peace and security.”
Secretary-General of the PLO Hussein al-Sheikh said, “We appreciate the firm and historical Arab position on the issue of Palestine and its lively presence at the Jeddah Summit, and the affirmation by all the Arab kings and leaders on the necessity of applying international legitimacy in ending the Israeli occupation and establishing an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
