Obama bids for dialogue with Muslim world

US President Barack Obama has begun his latest bid to open a dialogue with the Muslim world by meeting King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, home to Islam’s two holiest sites, Mecca and Medina.

“The United States and Saudi Arabia have a long history of friendship. We have a strategic relationship,” Obama said yesterday as he visited the monarch’s desert horse farm. He called Abdullah wise and gracious, adding: “I am confident that working together that the United States and Saudi Arabia can make progress on a whole host of issues of mutual interest.”

Abdullah expressed his “best wishes to the friendly American people who are represented by a distinguished man who deserves to be in this position.”