US Secretary of State Antony Blinken landed in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday for a two-day visit to the Kingdom. The US State Department affirmed Washington’s commitment to strengthening its security partnership with Saudi Arabia, including defense sales, joint exercises and combating missile proliferation. It said on Tuesday that cooperation with Saudi Arabia in order to ensure regional stability remained one of the “pillars of our bilateral relationship,” which was based on “common interest in the security of the Gulf region and preventing any foreign or regional power from threatening the region.” Earlier this week, the State Department said Blinken would meet with Saudi officials to discuss US-Saudi strategic cooperation on regional and global issues and a range of bilateral issues including economic and security cooperation. Blinken will participate in a US-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) ministerial meeting to discuss growing cooperation with Gulf partners and how they can promote security, stability, de-escalation, regional integration, and economic opportunities across the Middle East, spokesman Matt Miller said. Blinken and Foreign Minister Prince Faisal Bin Farhan will co-host a ministerial meeting of the Global Coalition to Defeat Daesh “to address the continuing threat of (Daesh) and reaffirm our commitment to ensure its enduring defeat,” he added. — Agencies