WASHINGTON (AFP) -
US President Barack Obama welcomed Saudi Arabia's King Salman for a first and long-delayed White House summit Friday, marked by warm public words amid clashing views on Middle Eastern crises.
Obama made the rare move of greeting the 79-year-old monarch at the doors of the White House, as he hailed the "longstanding friendship" between the two countries.
Salman's inaugural visit as king -- originally scheduled for May and cancelled by Riyadh -- has been billed as a way of putting relations back on a more stable footing.
In the Oval Office, Obama was effusive, saying he wanted to "once again reaffirm not only our personal friendship, but the deep and abiding friendship between our two people."
For his part Salman said his visit was a "symbol of the deep and strong relationship that we have with the United States."
These meetings normally end in "some kind of public statement that puts as positive a spin as possible on the meeting," said Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
"Both nations are close strategic partners in spite of their differences, and both states need each other."
Read more:
http://www.france24.com/en/20150904-obama-saudi-king-put-warm-gloss-over-differences
