WASHINGTON (JTA) — President Obama said he was "confident" that the United States and Saudi Arabia can "make progress on a whole host of issues and mutual interests."
Speaking Wednesday before a meeting with Saudi King Abdullah in Riyadh, Obama said the two countries have a "long history of friendship" and a "strategic relationship."
"I thought it was very important to come to the place where Islam began and to seek His Majesty’s counsel, and to discuss with him many of the issues that we confront here in the Middle East," Obama said.
Obama will continue his trip tomorrow in Cairo with what has been billed as a major speech to the Muslim world.
