Washington- US President Donald Trump received at the White House on Friday newly appointed Saudi ambassador Prince Khaled bin Salman bin Abdulaziz to approve his credentials as an official diplomat to Washington.
US political analysts believe that the presence of a “younger” ambassador in Washington is evidence of Saudi Arabia’s desire to strengthen its relationship with the new administration.
Prince Khaled officially kicked off his tenure as the Ambassador of the Kingdom to the US with the presentation of his credentials to Trump at a White House ceremony.
Prince Khaled is the 10th Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to the US since 1945.
“I am honored and excited to represent the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United States of America. Close friends and long-time allies, now more than ever, our two countries are aligned in shared interests and common purpose,” said the ambassador. “We are expanding trade and investment, increasing cultural exchanges, and fighting terrorism side by side.”
“My first priority is to build on the outcomes of the Riyadh Summit to foster closer cooperation on our collective security and to expand our economic partnership,” said the diplomat. “I also want to reintroduce Saudi Arabia to the United States. Under our new leadership, Saudi Arabia is continuing to change and modernize. I want to engage Americans in new ways to introduce and describe the important economic and social reforms now underway.”
Most recently, Prince Khalid was a senior civilian adviser in the Ministry of Defense. Previously, he was an officer in the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) where he flew F15-S combat missions in Syria and Yemen. As a result of a back condition that prevented him from flying, Prince Khaled served as a tactical intelligence officer at the King Abdulaziz Air Base in Dhahran.
Prince Khaled graduated from the King Faisal Air Academy in Riyadh and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the RSAF. He received pilot training in the United States at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas and Columbus Air Force Base in Columbus, Mississippi. He also studied advanced electronic warfare in France.