Dina Powell says Trump ‘found partner’ in Saudi crown prince during first meeting
US President Donald Trump told his staff “we have our partner” after his first meeting with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, former US deputy national security adviser Dina Habib Powell said in her first remarks since leaving the White House.
Ms Powell, speaking yesterday at the Saudi-US CEO Forum 2018 in New York, recounted the early thaw between Washington and Riyadh.
When Mr Trump was elected in November 2016, one of his first priorities was to tackle the terrorist threat and “we had to engage quickly and meaningfully in the region”, she said.
Prince Mohammed, then deputy crown prince, “reached out [to the US administration] and built strong relations with Jared [Kushner] and others”, with both sides pushing ahead, Ms Powell said.
Lunch this month with Mr Trump strengthened the partnership. Afterwards, Mr Trump told staff “I think we have our partner”, noting that the Saudi counter-radicalism and reform agendas helped build the rapport.
The US and Saudi discussions continued, leading to the president’s first foreign visit to Riyadh in May.
“A year ago no one would have believed that ISIL would be defeated,” said Ms Powell, who left the White House this year.
She credited Mr Trump, who was willing let the US military do its job, and the Saudi crown prince, who saw the terrorist threat. Ms Powell also called Iran “the largest state sponsor of terrorism” and stressed the need to counter the problem.
As for the Saudi economy, Ms Powell said she saw the urgency in implementing Vision 2030 and that there was “one choice” in reforming and revamping the economy.
US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross yesterday said plans for Saudi Arabia’s economy “could be more transformative geopolitically” than “when we stood with the kingdom in 1938 as they developed hydrocarbon”.
He mentioned plans to build mega-city Neom as one example of the transformation. Egypt committed more than 1,000 square kilometres of land in the southern Sinai Peninsula to the planned mega-city and business zone unveiled by Saudi Arabia last October. The territory along the Red Sea is part of a joint fund announced by the two countries during a visit to Cairo by the Saudi crown prince in February.
The panel also featured Saudi’s Energy Minister Khalid Al Falih and Minister of Commerce Majid Al Qasabi. They discussed legal and financial reforms in Saudi Arabia to boost business and investment.
Meanwhile, Prince Mohammed was expected to meet UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres yesterday to discuss the war in Yemen and Sunday’s Houthi attack on Riyadh.
Prince Mohammed was expected to meet the UN secretary general to discuss the war in Yemen