Riyadh, April 08: Former US president Bill Clinton met Saudi King Abdullah in an unannounced two-day visit to the oil-rich kingdom, the official SPA news agency said.
Clinton met Abdullah, the Saudi intelligence chief Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz, assistant defence minister Khaled bin Sultan and other top officials at the king’s farm outside Riyadh Wednesday evening where they discussed “issues of mutual concern,” SPA said.
No specific details were given on the nature of the visit of Clinton, who arrived in Riyadh late Tuesday.
The former president runs the New York-based William J. Clinton Foundation, which promotes and funds action on a number of current problems with global reach such as poverty, health, AIDS and climate change.
The Saudi government has been a major supporter of Clinton’s post-White House activities, donating 10 million dollars to the construction of his presidential library, and between 10-25 million dollars to his foundation in 2009, according to foundation records.
Clinton, president from 1993 to 2001, is also the husband of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who visited Saudi Arabia in February for talks on Iran and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
—Agencies