By Shannon Pettypiece -
NBC News
JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia — President Joe Biden tried to reassure Middle East leaders on Saturday that the United States would remain heavily involved in the region as it seeks to counter the growing influence of China, Russia and Iran.
“We are not going anywhere and we will not leave a vacuum that can be filled by China, Russia or Iran.
We are going to build active American leadership on this moment,” Biden said at the start of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)+3 summit held this Saturday in Saudi Arabia.
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Biden tried to set expectations during a series of meetings with Middle East leaders about the role he envisions for the United States in the region, according to senior administration officials.
He noted that his visit to the Middle East is the first by an American president in 20 years in which the United States does not have troops on a combat mission in the area.
In his remarks to Gulf leaders, Biden also raised the issue of human rights, an issue on which his fellow Democrats have pressed him to be more forceful.
He told the group that the "future will be won" by nations where citizens can "question and criticize leaders without fear of reprisal."
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"I've gotten a lot of flak over the years, it's not fun, but the ability to speak openly, to freely exchange ideas is what unlocks innovation," Biden said.
Biden met individually with the leaders of Egypt, Iraq and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) before attending a summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council, which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
After the meetings, he is scheduled to fly back to Washington.
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Biden intended to set expectations at the summit about the role he envisions for the United States in the Middle East and his desire to prevent Russia and China from increasing their influence in the region, senior administration officials said.
He has noted that his visit to the Middle East is the first by an American president in 20 years in which the United States does not have troops on a combat mission in the area.
"He intends to ensure that there is not a void in the Middle East for China and Russia to fill; that leadership and engagement will be a feature of American policy in this region; and that we intend to play a critical role in this strategically vital area," Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a briefing with reporters on Friday.
The summit will cap Biden's first trip to the Middle East as president, during which he also met with Israeli, Palestinian and Saudi leaders.
While Biden was able to help make some incremental steps along the way toward improving relations in the region -- such as Saudi Arabia's decision to open its airspace to flights to and from Israel -- he acknowledged that the biggest changes will take weather.
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The president is expected to leave the trip without any concrete commitment from the Gulf countries on increasing oil production, something that could have helped him with his main domestic problem, inflation.
The trip has become a source of controversy at home due, in part, to Biden's decision to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the man the US intelligence community concluded was behind the assassination. by Jamal Khashoggi, columnist for The Washington Post.
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During his Saturday meetings with Gulf leaders, Biden was expected to discuss "closer coordination and collaboration" around Iran along with investments in energy and digital infrastructure in the Middle East, Sullivan detailed before the meetings.
During Biden's trip to Israel earlier this week, he said he would also discuss with Gulf leaders Israel's desire to move toward normalizing relations with more countries in the region, similar to steps it has already taken with Morocco, the UAE and Bahrain.