Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince in Seattle to drum up investment in the Kingdom

Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) will continue his three-week visit to the US in Seattle today before travelling to California.

Whereas MbS’ East Coast tour to Washington, D.C. and New York concentrated on shoring up the US-Saudi alliance and building consensus to combat Iran, his focus today will shift to trade and investment. The king-in-waiting is expected to meet with representatives from tech giants Amazon, Google and Apple, as well as from aerospace firm Boeing and even with Microsoft founder Bill Gates.

The business and technology focus of MbS’ trip along the US West Coast is important for the crown prince’s Vision 2030 project, which aims to diversify Saudi Arabia’s oil-dependent economy and implement social reforms in the conservative kingdom—women’s rights, for example, are slowly progressing.

With a modernised Saudi Arabia highly palatable to the US, expect today’s trip and, indeed, the Vision 2030 project to deepen an already strong US-Saudi alliance.