GCC
Middle East tour on Rubio's agenda
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is planning a trip to the Middle East next week and is expected to visit Kuwait, the UAE and Bahrain, Axios reported on Friday, citing two sources.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman flew to the United Arab Emirates, the Saudi state news agency said on Sunday, the first such visit in three years.
Mohammed bin Salman © Mena Today
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman flew to the United Arab Emirates, the Saudi state news agency said on Sunday, the first such visit in three years.
The visit comes days ahead of a Dec. 5 OPEC+ oil policy meeting that had been postponed from Sunday.
Sources have told Reuters that among the issues that need to be addressed include an output hike for the United Arab Emirates agreed in June this year that's scheduled to start in January 2025.
OPEC+, which groups the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and allies such as Russia, had postponed its meeting on the back of a Gulf Summit scheduled for Sunday in Kuwait.
The Saudi state news agency did not give a reason behind the crown prince's visit to the UAE. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are traditional allies but economic rivalry has on occasion seen them chart separate paths on certain topics.
Reporting by Hatem Maher and Ahmed Tolba
U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is planning a trip to the Middle East next week and is expected to visit Kuwait, the UAE and Bahrain, Axios reported on Friday, citing two sources.
The foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan are due to meet in Cairo on Sunday to discuss the fragile US-Iran peace framework, as Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon killed 47 people and wounded nearly 100, dealing a severe blow to the ceasefire the agreement was supposed to deliver.
Switzerland said U.S. talks with Iranian negotiators on a pact to end the Middle East conflict would not take place on Friday, while Vice President JD Vance dropped plans to travel there, fuelling uncertainty whether a lasting truce can be found.
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