The conflict in Gaza garnered more attention on the second day of Donald Trump's visit to the Middle East. This comes after increased pressure from the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) during their summit with the U.S. president today. Our correspondent Luqman Hariz reports from Riyadh.
00:00The conflict in Gaza garnered more attention on the second day of Donald Trump's visit to the Middle East.
00:06This comes after increased pressure from the leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, GCC, in their summit with the U.S. President today.
00:15Now, Luqman Harris from Riyadh has more.
00:17Yes, Farhana. The first day of Trump's official visit to Saudi Arabia seemed to be dominated by agreements on investments and economic cooperation to the point that it perhaps raised concerns, especially amongst the Muslim world, on other geopolitical issues, especially Gaza.
00:37Trump did briefly mention Gaza yesterday while he was speaking at the Saudi U.S. Investment Forum, saying that the people of Gaza deserve better.
00:47There are no other humans on Earth that has gone through worse treatment.
00:52But it ended just like that.
00:54But today, we are seeing a renewed push and interest from leaders of the GCC for the U.S. to take a more active stand on fighting for lasting peace in the besieged region.
01:05And Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, or MBS, made a direct and public plea to Trump for the U.S. to take more of a leadership role in that conflict.
01:17And so interestingly, it seems that the second day of Trump's visit to the Middle East, which will also see him visit the UAE and Qatar, have taken slightly, a slightly different gear.
01:45It's no longer, at least for now it seems, it's no longer about investment agreements and pledges as to who can invest more into which country.
01:54But rather, it has taken a turn to focus more on geopolitical issues.
01:59Trump, of course, made waves when he announced yesterday that the U.S. would lift sanctions on Syria.
02:05In fact, earlier today, Trump did meet with the new leader of Syria, Ahmad Al-Charab, here in Saudi to discuss that matter further.
02:11And he also said, of course, that the U.S. is open to signing a new agreement with Iran.
02:16Didn't give any sort of details whether that would be similar to the nuclear agreement signed previously by President Barack Obama.
02:24But it's interesting to see the shift in focus to the second day.
02:27Trump now has left Saudi Arabia.
02:30He's headed to Qatar and UAE to continue his four-day visit to the Middle East before returning to the U.S.
02:36And it remains to be seen whether we will see a similar theme as to whether economic and trade investment arrangements will take priority
02:46or whether there will be a different tone there in those two countries.
02:50But of course, we will bring everything to you from here in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
02:57Be sure to follow us on all our social media platforms as for awani.com and of course here on Channel 501.
03:02For now, back to you, Farhana in Bukit Jalil.
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