Naharnet

Trump's Meetings in Saudi

US President Donald Trump on Saturday makes longtime ally Saudi Arabia the first overseas stop of his presidency.

He will have a palace dinner with King Salman after talks with the country's two other most powerful figures, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Here are profiles of the Saudi royals:

KING SALMAN

- Born December 31, 1935. Aged 81

- Seventh monarch to rule the kingdom founded by his father Abdulaziz Ibn Saud in 1932

- Holds the post of prime minister and the title of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques

- Served around 50 years as governor of Riyadh and its surroundings, overseeing the capital's emergence as a modern city

- Named defence minister in 2011

- Named crown prince in 2012

- Father of a daughter and 10 sons, including Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman 

- As part of a cabinet shuffle in April, the king named another son, Prince Khaled bin Salman, as ambassador to Washington. The prince, believed to be in his late 20s, is a former Royal Saudi Air Force pilot who flew missions as part of the US-led coalition fighting the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq.

The same shuffle promoted a third son, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, to a post as state minister for energy affairs.

CROWN PRINCE MOHAMMED BIN NAYEF

- Born August 30, 1959. Aged 57

- Next in line to the throne

- Holds the posts of interior minister and deputy prime minister

- Studied political science in the United States and received "advanced law enforcement and counter-terrorism" training in the US and Britain, according to an official biography

- Has worked in the interior ministry since 1999, initially under his father, overseeing a crackdown on Al-Qaeda which attacked security officers and foreigners between 2003 and 2007

- Named interior minister in 2012 upon his father's death

- Survived with only light injuries an assassination attempt by Al-Qaeda in 2009

- Awarded in February a medal for his counter-terrorism work by Mike Pompeo, named by Trump to head the Central Intelligence Agency

- Married with two daughters, he enjoys swimming, horse riding and hunting, his biography says

DEPUTY CROWN PRINCE MOHAMMED BIN SALMAN:

- Born August 31, 1985. Aged 31

- Second in line to the throne, but increasingly powerful since being named deputy crown prince two years ago

- Holds the post of defence minister as the country leads an Arab coalition which for two years has conducted air strikes and other operations against rebels in Yemen, prompting concern from rights groups over civilian casualties

- Holds additional posts of: second deputy prime minister; special adviser to the king; head of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs; chairman of the body overseeing state oil firm Saudi Aramco

- Holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in law from King Saud University

- Served as special adviser to his father when he was Riyadh governor and then crown prince

- Analysts and diplomats said the April cabinet shuffle aimed to strengthen his position against that of the crown prince, and to bolster ties with Washington

- Met Trump at the White House in March, on a visit which paved the way for this weekend's summit

- Is chief proponent of Vision 2030, a wide-ranging plan launched last year to diversify the oil dependent economy and bring social change to a conservative Islamic country where more than half the local population is under 25

Source: Agence France Presse


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