Donald Trump on Tuesday designated Saudi Arabia as a “major non-NATO ally”, during the gala dinner organized at the White House in honor of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is visiting Washington, reports Reuters.
“Tonight, I am pleased to announce that we are taking our military cooperation to an even higher level by officially designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally, which is very important to them,” said the American president, according to news.ro.
Currently, nineteen countries benefit from this privileged status, which provides for close military and economic cooperation with the United States, without presupposing security commitments.
The US and Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday several agreements on arms sales, civil nuclear cooperation, artificial intelligence, and critical minerals.
During the White House dinner on Tuesday night, Trump said he was “taking military cooperation to an even higher level” by designating Saudi Arabia as a major non-NATO ally.
The US attacks on Iran's nuclear facilities in June made Saudi Arabia safer, Trump added.
What the Saudi prince got from Trump
According to a White House fact sheet, the two sides signed a strategic defense agreement that “strengthens deterrence in the Middle East,” facilitates the operations of American defense firms in the country, and provides “new burden-sharing funds with Saudi Arabia to cover U.S. costs.”
The agreement does not seem to correspond, however, to the NATO-type treaty ratified by Congress that Saudi Arabia originally wanted.
The White House announced that Trump has approved future deliveries of F-35 fighter jets, and the Saudis will also purchase 300 American tanks.
The sale of stealth fighters to the Saudi kingdom, which has requested the purchase of 48 advanced jets, would mark the first American sale of advanced fighter jets to Riyadh, a significant policy shift. The deal could change the military balance in the Middle East and test Washington's concept of maintaining a “qualitative military advantage” for Israel. Until now, Israel was the only country in the Middle East that owned F-35 aircraft.
The two countries also signed a joint statement on the completion of negotiations for cooperation in the field of civil nuclear energy, which, according to the White House, would constitute the legal basis for a long-term partnership in the field of nuclear energy.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (also known as MBS), the factor leader of Saudi Arabia, sought an agreement that would unlock access to American nuclear technology and help Saudi Arabia keep pace with the United Arab Emirates and Iran, the traditional adversary in the region. But progress on such a nuclear pact has been difficult because the Saudis have opposed a US condition that would rule out enriching uranium or reprocessing spent fuel — both potential paths to building a bomb.
Mbs increases investments in the USA to 1,000 billion dollars
At the start of his visit, the crown prince was greeted with a lavish ceremony presided over by Trump on the South Lawn, complete with a military honor guard, a cannon salute and a flyover by US fighter jets.
Seated next to Trump, bin Salman promised to increase his country's investment in the US to $1 trillion, up from the $600 billion he promised when Trump visited Saudi Arabia in May. But he did not provide details or a timetable.
A $1 trillion investment in the US would be difficult for Saudi Arabia to achieve, given the heavy spending on a number of ambitious projects at the national level, including futuristic megalopolises that have gone over budget.
The two sides also signed a memorandum of understanding on artificial intelligence and a framework for collaboration in the field of critical minerals, the White House said.
Spearheading an ambitious plan, Vision 2030, to diversify the Saudi economy and reduce its dependence on oil, bin Salman is expected to promote his efforts at an investment conference attended by a number of company executives on Wednesday at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
