Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud (right) walks with President Barack Obama at the King Khaled international airport in Riyadh on June 3. -- PHOTO: AFP
RIYADH - PRESIDENT Barack Obama met Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah in Riyadh on Wednesday on the eve of a much-heralded speech in Cairo the US leader hopes will help refurbish America's tarnished image in the Islamic world.
After sipping Arabic coffee at an airport welcome ceremony, Mr Obama travelled to the king's farm for talks expected to cover the Arab-Israeli conflict, US overtures to Iran and oil.
Mr Obama, whose father was Muslim and who lived in Indonesia as a boy, hopes to mend a US image damaged by former president Bush's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the treatment of US military detainees.
'This is my first visit to Saudi Arabia but I've had several conversations with His Majesty and I have been struck by his wisdom and his graciousness,' the president told reporters before going into talks with King Abdullah at his farm.
'I am confident that, working together, the United States and Saudi Arabia can make progress on a whole host of issues of mutual interest,' he added.
SAUDI WORRIES ABOUT IRAN King Abdullah was expected to express his worries that Mr Obama's diplomatic outreach to Iran may rejig regional relationships at Riyadh's expense, diplomats and analysts say.
Saudi Arabia wants Mr Obama to get tough with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has balked at Palestinian statehood and rebuffed US calls to halt settlement building.
Mr Obama has hinted he would like Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, to offer some confidence-building measures to Israel.
'I think we have not seen a set of potential gestures from other Arab states, or from the Palestinians, that might deal with some of the Israeli concerns,' he told the BBC.
The Saudi adviser said it was 'completely unrealistic' to expect any concession from Riyadh, at least until Israel stopped all settlement expansion and accepted the Arab peace plan.
Washington hopes Saudi Arabia will play a moderating role in the Organisation of Petroleum Exporters (Opec) after oil prices hit a seventh-month high, threatening Mr Obama's efforts to lift the United States out of recession and hasten global recovery. -- REUTERS
