WASHINGTON (Reuters) - White House adviser Jared Kushner and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman held talks on Tuesday that covered “increasing cooperation” between the United States and Saudi Arabia and Middle East peace efforts, the White House said.
The Riyadh meeting was their first face-to-face talks since the crown prince became embroiled in the scandal of the killing of U.S.-based Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Turkey last October.
Kushner, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump and his son-in-law, is leading a delegation to a variety of Gulf nations this week seeking support for the economic portion of a yet-to-be unveiled Israeli-Palestinian peace proposal.
Kushner, U.S. Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt and U.S. special representative for Iran, Brian Hook, met with Saudi King Salman and the crown prince, a White House statement on Wednesday said.
“Building on previous conversations, they discussed increasing cooperation between the United States and Saudi Arabia, and the Trump administration’s efforts to facilitate peace between the Israelis and Palestinians,” the statement said.
“Additionally, they discussed ways to improve the condition of the entire region through economic investment,” it said.
Kushner met with leaders in the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman earlier this week. He was in Turkey on Wednesday.
Khashoggi’s death by Saudi agents in Istanbul sparked an outcry and tarnished the crown prince’s image.
Reporting By Steve Holland; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Grant McCool
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