(WASHINGTON, DC) – Today, Saudi Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Saud Al-Faisal met with President George W. Bush at the White House to discuss bilateral relations between Saudi Arabia and the United States. Yesterday, Prince Saud and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice co-chaired the second session of the Saudi-U.S. Committee for Strategic Dialogue.

The meeting, which took place in Washington, DC, featured discussion related to the activities of the Dialogue’s Working Groups, consisting of Counterterrorism, Military Affairs, Energy, Economic and Financial Affairs, Consular Affairs, and Partnership, Education, Exchange & Human Development. The Working Groups also outlined their agendas for the next six months.

“The Strategic Dialogue is proving to be an effective way of maintaining communication and cooperation between Saudi Arabia and the U.S. on a variety of important international issues,” Saudi Ambassador to the U.S. Prince Turki Al-Faisal remarked. “We look forward to meeting again in the fall, when we can assess our progression toward our mutual goals.”

The Strategic Dialogue was established by Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and President Bush during their April 25, 2005 meeting in Crawford, Texas. The first session took place in November 2005 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The meetings, which take place every six months, alternating between Saudi Arabia and the U.S., are intended to institutionalize the two countries’ historic relations.

Working Groups meet on a continuous or as-needed basis to deal with functional issues, and provide a framework through which officials from respective Departments and Ministries from both governments can effectively address critical matters as they arise.