MUST-READS

• Zelenskyy arrives in Saudi Arabia to meet prince ahead of summit with U.S.

  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived Monday in Saudi Arabia for a visit with its powerful crown prince ahead of his team’s meeting with America’s top diplomat. While Zelenskyy won’t be there, his team will try to repair the damage done when his Feb. 28 visit to Washington descended into an Oval Office argument with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance. At stake is the military aid and intelligence previously offered by the United States that had helped Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Zelenskyy landed a few hours apart in Jeddah, a port city on the Red Sea where the Ukraine-U.S. summit will take place Tuesday.

• MBS confirms Saudi Arabia’s support for resolutions adopted by Arab League summit on Gaza

  Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman emphasized the Kingdom’s full support for the resolutions adopted by the extraordinary Arab League summit on Gaza. The meeting – held in Egypt’s Cairo – saw leaders from the Arab region come together to counter US President Donald Trump’s “Middle East Riveria” vision, which seeks to displace Palestinians in the territory from their homes. The Cabinet also stressed the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination and to attain their legitimate rights, including the establishment of an independent state along the 1967 borders, with east Jerusalem as its capital, according to SPA.

• PRIORITY Summit in Miami Highlights Saudi Arabia’s Key Role in Geopolitics, Finance, Technology, and Sports

  The PRIORITY Summit, hosted by the Future Investment Initiative (FII) Institute in Miami, underscored Saudi Arabia's growing influence across geopolitics, finance, technology, and sports. The event attracted top leaders from politics, finance, and technology, reinforcing its status as one of the premier global investment conferences. The summit also served as a call to global investors to participate in multiple opportunities in Saudi Arabia, such as infrastructure, AI, sports, and healthcare, while highlighting opportunities that Saudi investors are keen to pursue internationally. An office to facilitate inbound and outbound investments was announced by the Saudi Minister of Investment, H.E. Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih, in the presence of Saudi Ambassador to U.S, Princess Reema bint Bandar Al Saud, Abdulrahman Bakir (Managing Director, MISA Americas) and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.

• Saudi Arabia hosts ‘informal’ Arab summit on post-war Gaza

  Saudi Arabia hosted an “informal” summit of Arab states in its capital Riyadh on 21 February to discuss regional efforts to propose an alternative to US President Donald Trump’s controversial expulsion and reconstruction plan for Gaza. It was hosted by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) and attended by Jordanian King Abdullah II, Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed (MbZ), Kuwaiti Emir Mishal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, and Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa. The summit began and ended on Friday, and no final statement was issued. A Saudi source told AFP that the “discussion was confidential.”

• Reconstruction and rivalries: What to expect from Saudi Arabia’s Gaza summit

  Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is expected to host leaders from Egypt, Jordan, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates in Riyadh on Friday to discuss the Egyptian proposal. Just because Trump has warmed up to an Arab post-war plan for Gaza and is keen on Gulf cash does not mean the crown prince and his counterparts have it easy. The Egyptian plan, which has now been widely reported, calls, unsurprisingly, for Palestinians to stay in the Gaza Strip. They would live in mobile housing while debris is cleared away and reconstruction begins. The main sticking point is who will pay for reconstruction and temporary housing. Analysts and diplomats have speculated that Trump’s call for the US to take over the enclave without paying for it was a ploy to get oil-rich Gulf states to foot the bill. More than $50bn will be required to rebuild Gaza, a joint assessment provided by the United Nations, European Union and World Bank on Tuesday said. At least $20bn will be required in the first three years. Asked in an interview in January if Saudi Arabia would fund Gaza’s reconstruction, Prince Khalid bin Bandar bin Sultan Al Saud, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the UK, said: “To reconstruct a Palestinian state, yes. To reconstruct a territory that the Israelis might destroy again in a matter of years, I don’t think that would be a sensible thing to do.”

• Saudi Arabia’s crown prince wins points for hosting the Russia-US summit on Ukraine

  Crown Prince Mohammed now finds himself at the center of the Trump administration’s outreach to Russia, a country Saudi Arabia carefully maintained ties to during the war through the OPEC+ oil cartel. And with Trump suggesting his first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin — something Moscow hopes can bring it in from the cold of Western nations — will take place in Saudi Arabia, Prince Mohammed is likely to remain a top player. In the Saudi-owned, London-published newspaper Asharq Al Awsat, journalist Mishari al-Dhaidi described Tuesday’s U.S.-Russia summit as “restoring dialogue between the two poles of the world.” He called it “a major step on the international political chess arena, revealing the status of Saudi Arabia and its positive influence for the benefit of the people all the people.”

• Arab summit on Trump’s Gaza plan postponed and expanded

  A planned meeting in Saudi Arabia of Arab leaders in response to United States President Donald Trump's plan to take control of Gaza has been postponed by a day and expanded, Arab diplomats said on Monday, February 17. "The mini Arab summit in Riyadh has been postponed from Thursday to Friday, February 21," a Saudi source told French news agency AFP. An Arab diplomatic source confirmed the new date. Three Arab states had been expected to attend the summit, but the Saudi source said the expanded meeting will "include the leaders of the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries, along with Egypt and Jordan, to discuss Arab alternatives to Trump's plans in the Gaza Strip". The Saudi source said that "an influential Gulf country expressed its dissatisfaction at being excluded from the Riyadh summit, which prompted the organizers to include all the Gulf countries" – without specifying which country.

• Saudi Arabia, UAE seen as possible venues for Trump-Putin summit, two Russian sources say
  Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are seen by Russia as possible venues for a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, two Russian sources with knowledge of the discussions told Reuters. Trump has said he will end the war in Ukraine as soon as possible and said he is ready to meet with Putin. Putin congratulated Trump on his election and stated he is ready to meet Trump to discuss Ukraine and energy.Russian officials have repeatedly denied any direct contacts with the U.S. about preparations for a phone call between Trump and Putin, which would precede an eventual meeting later this year. However, senior Russian officials have visited both Saudi Arabia and the UAE in recent weeks, according to the Russian sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the situation.

• Saudi Arabia: Shaping Global Urbanization Discussions at Urban 20 Summit

  A Saudi delegation, led by Advisor at the General Secretariat of the Saudi Arabian Council of Ministers Fahd Al-Rasheed, actively participated in the 7th Urban 20 (U20) Global Summit in Rio de Janeiro. The summit, one of the world’s most influential urban development forums, highlighted Saudi Arabia's continued leadership in shaping global urbanization strategies. The U20 gathers cities from G20 member states to address pressing economic, climate, and developmental challenges. Saudi Arabia has played a prominent role in the forum since 2019, with Al-Rasheed previously serving as Chair in 2020 during Saudi Arabia’s G20 presidency.

• Saudi Arabia Crown Prince MBS Cancels Trip to G-20 Summit in Rio

  The most likely reason is that flying more than 14 hours from the Saudi capital Riyadh to the Brazilian city may aggravate a chronic ear canal condition plaguing the 39-year-old widely known as MBS, according to the person, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitive nature of the issue. The Saudi leader has in the past experienced ear blockage and inflammation that has lasted days after making long-distance air trips, the person said. He has previously scrapped foreign trips at the last minute, including a state visit to Japan this year when his ailing 88-year-old father, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, underwent treatment for a lung inflammation.

• 10 of 114 results1 2 … 12 >>