Here is the arrival ceremony.
“The United States and Saudi Arabia have a long history of friendship,” Mr. Obama said, standing alongside King Abdullah, as the two began a series of meetings. “We have a strategic relationship.
He added, “I thought it was very important to come to the place where Islam began and to seek his majesty’s counsel and to discuss with him many of the issues that we confront here in the Middle East.”
Mr. Obama, who flew overnight from Washington, received a royal welcome as he stepped off Air Force One and walked across a red carpet in the grueling afternoon heat. The president and the king exchanged a light embrace and kiss, but Mr. Obama did not bow before the king as he did at their first meeting in London earlier this year, a gesture that drew criticism.
The trip to Saudi Arabia, which comes on the eve of Mr. Obama’s highly anticipated speech to the Muslim world from Cairo, was added to the White House itinerary last week. Administration officials said it would have been diplomatically awkward to be in the region without visiting Saudi Arabia, an important ally.
The king, who placed a gold medallion around Mr. Obama’s neck, smiled as he recalled the visit of another American president to his horse farm outside Riyadh.
“I am not surprised, given the historically strategic ties between our two countries, I believe that go back to the time of the meeting between the late Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the late King Abdul Aziz,” King Abdullah said. “I also want to express my best wishes to the friendly American people who are represented by a distinguished man who deserves to be in this position.”
Mr. Obama replied, “Shoukran,” using the Arabic for “Thank you.” Read more at NYT
