Jake Sullivan, the White House national security adviser, will travel to Saudi Arabia on Sunday to meet with Saudi leaders. The US, Saudi Arabia, and India are planning to jointly develop a network of railways that would connect the Gulf countries and shipping lanes to connect the Arab nations to India. Sullivan is planning a meeting of Saudi, UAE, and Indian national security advisers in Saudi Arabia on Sunday to discuss the infrastructure project.
This meeting will be the first of its kind involving the national security advisers in the volatile region where India has a huge stake. Sullivan will also discuss bilateral ties, regional issues, and further normalization steps between Washington and Riyadh with the crown prince. The US wants to push the project as its key initiative in the Middle East to counter China’s growing influence in the region.
The idea of the major infrastructure project came up during talks held in the last 18 months in a forum named I2U2 which involved the US, Israel, UAE, and India. The Biden administration recently expanded on the idea to include Saudi Arabia’s participation in the initiative. Israel has not been included as a part of this initiative currently, but it could be added to it in the future.
