Editor's Note.

During July, the 46th President of the United States, Joe Biden, made the first official visit to the Middle East since taking office. During his four-day visit from the 13th to 16th of July, the American President met with several regional leaders. The President's trip started in Israel, where he signed the "Jerusalem Declaration," which reaffirmed the country's commitment to creating a more robust regional structure, deepening ties with all of its regional allies, advancing Israel's assimilation in the region over time, and expanding the sphere of coexistence to involve ever more Arab and the Muslim States. The Saudi government announced that it would provide airspace privileges to all airlines, including Israeli planes after the President made the first official flight of its kind from Israel to Saudi Arabia. This normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia is the most breakthrough development that resulted from the trip. The relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel also has the potential to reshape the regional political and strategic trajectory in the region. Increasing regional cooperation and collaboration were recurring themes in the President's discussions with the leaders of other regional countries, including the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Oman, Egypt, and Iraq. Despite low hopes for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations, particularly with an Israeli interim administration in place, some effort seems to have been put into mending Palestinian-Gulf relations. The Biden visit sparked some tentative measures toward rapprochement, securing aid from the GCC for the East Jerusalem Hospital Network, which provides health insurance to Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem.

It's too soon to predict the effect, but it is a promising start. For the following reasons, and possibly more, Vice President Biden's visit was necessary and effective in advancing US diplomacy and deterrence in the region. In a rundown towards the main SCO Summit scheduled to be held in September, the SCO Council of Foreign Ministers was hosted by the current Chairman of the organization Uzbekistan. Foreign Ministers from eight permanent members, four observer states and nine dialogue partners along with representatives from other countries and international organizations were present for this important summit. The meeting put forward the roadmap and finalized several important thresholds for the upcoming...