Global diplomacy

Between the powers

The Kingdom maintains strategic relationships with rivals — a security partnership with the United States, deep trade with China, oil-market coordination with Russia — while expanding ties in Asia, Europe, Africa and Latin America. This page reads those relationships strategically; the country-by-country record is in the explorer.

Security & investment

United States

The oldest of the Kingdom’s great-power relationships was formalised further in 2025: the Strategic Defense Agreement signed by President Trump and the Crown Prince on 18 November 2025 designated Saudi Arabia a Major Non-NATO Ally. The relationship also carries friction the minister has addressed in public — asked in Riyadh in June 2023 about US pressure on human rights, he replied: “we are always open to having a dialogue with our friends, but we don’t respond to pressure.”

Documented roleTalks with Secretaries of State Antony Blinken (2021–2024) and Marco Rubio (2025–2026); host, with the National Security Adviser, of the US–Russia talks in Riyadh (February 2025) and US–Ukraine talks in Jeddah (March 2025).

Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud walking ahead of US Secretary of State Antony Blinken through a doorway with red marble walls at the State Department — **Washington.** With Secretary of State Antony Blinken at the State Department. The setting matches his only documented State Department meeting with Blinken, on 14 October 2021; no caption for this frame was found.

Trade & mediation

China

China has been the Kingdom’s largest trading partner for over a decade; it supplied 27.5 per cent of Saudi imports in 2025 according to GASTAT. Relations were raised to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership in 2016, and in March 2023 Beijing hosted the talks that restored Saudi–Iranian relations.

Documented roleTalks with Wang Yi in Wuxi (January 2022); the first post-agreement meeting with Iran’s foreign minister in Beijing (April 2023); the first stop of the Arab-Islamic Gaza committee (November 2023); an official visit announced for 30 June–1 July 2026.

Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud shaking hands with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in front of the Saudi and Chinese flags — **With Wang Yi.** Date and place not recorded in the supplied file.

Energy coordination

Russia

The relationship is anchored in OPEC+, which Saudi Arabia and Russia have co-led since 2016. In the centenary year of relations, the minister told reporters in Moscow on 8 September 2026 that Saudi–Russian cooperation had proven vital to the stability of global energy markets (Arab News).

Documented roleMeetings with Sergey Lavrov as chair of the Gaza committee (November 2023) and in Moscow (September 2026); host of the US–Russia talks in Riyadh (February 2025).

Councils & dialogues

Europe

European relationships have been institutionalised through strategic partnership councils with the United Kingdom (2018) and France (2024) and, in September 2026, a foreign-minister-level strategic dialogue with Germany. France was also Saudi Arabia’s co-chair at the 2025 UN conference on the two-state solution, and Italy its co-chair at the Global Alliance session in Rome in July 2026.

Documented roleSigned the Saudi–French council memorandum (December 2024) and the Saudi–German dialogue memorandum (September 2026); invited partner at the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in France (March 2026).

Energy customers, partners

India, Japan, Korea & Southeast Asia

Asia’s largest economies are among the Kingdom’s largest oil customers. India’s Strategic Partnership Council (2019) and Japan’s strategic dialogue, agreed in 2023, give the foreign ministry a standing channel with each; the Republic of Korea became a strategic partner in 2023.

Documented roleCo-chairs the India–Saudi ministerial committee (2022, 2024); three Japan–Saudi strategic dialogues (the first in 2023, the third on 20 August 2026); visits to Tokyo and Seoul (July 2022).

Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud standing with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in front of the Saudi and Japanese flags — **Tokyo, 19 July 2022.** With Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Cabinet Public Relations Office, Government of Japan.

Faisal bin Farhan Al-Saud shaking hands with Singapore's Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan in front of Saudi and Singaporean flags — **With Vivian Balakrishnan,** Singapore’s Minister for Foreign Affairs. Date and place not recorded.

Emerging partnerships

Africa & Latin America

The first Saudi–Africa Summit in November 2023 announced more than US$5 billion in development finance for Africa through 2030. In Latin America the relationship with Brazil gained a coordination council in 2024, the year Brazil hosted the G20.

Documented roleRepresented the Crown Prince at the G20 in Johannesburg (2025) and Rio de Janeiro (2024); signed the Saudi–Brazilian council memorandum (November 2024); Sudan diplomacy from 2023.

Sources & Further ReadingGlobal Diplomacy

Al Arabiya, US–Saudi Strategic Defense Agreement, 19 November 2025. english.alarabiya.net
US Department of State, joint press availability, 8 June 2023. state.gov
US Embassy in Russia, Rubio–Lavrov meeting, Riyadh, 18 February 2025. ru.usembassy.gov
Arab News, GASTAT trade figures for 2025. arabnews.com
SPA, China–Saudi Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, January 2016. spa.gov.sa
Arab News, Saudi–Russian cooperation and energy markets, 8 September 2026. arabnews.com
SPA, Saudi–French Strategic Partnership Council, December 2024. spa.gov.sa
Arab News, Saudi–German strategic dialogue, September 2026. arabnews.com
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, third strategic dialogue, 20 August 2026. mofa.go.jp
Prime Minister’s Office of Japan, 19 July 2022. kantei.go.jp
Argaam, Saudi–Africa Summit pledges. argaam.com
Carnegie Endowment, BRICS and Saudi hedging, November 2024. carnegieendowment.org