PM Modi facilitates Biden-MBS handshake at the G20 Summit | Watch

After the infamous fist bump last year, US President Joe Biden and Crown Prince and PM of Saudi Arabia Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud or MBS shook hands at the G20 Summit on September 9. This time around, the interaction happened in PM Narendra Modi's presence at the launch event of the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment (PGII) and India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC). 

#WATCH | G 20 in India: Handshake by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, US President Joe Biden and Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia Muhammed Bin Salman, at PGII & India Middle East Europe connectivity corridor launch event, in Delhi pic.twitter.com/YgW22tbcpw

— ANI (@ANI) September 9, 2023

Ever since Biden assumed office, he vowed to take a strict stance against Saudi Arabia and make the country a 'pariah' for the alleged human rights violations. 

This new handshake could see a new partnership foster during India's G20 Presidency. At the first day of the G20 Summit, the G20 members including the US and Saudi reached a consensus over the PGII and IMEC. Besides, India, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the US are also collaborating for a railway project to connect Asia with the Arab countries. This project is also likely to bring the two countries together after it hit a low point since Biden's pledge to "make them pay the price." 

The two countries, however, are on the same page on one front, which is trying to eliminate the Houthi rebels in Yemen. The two countries, along with the UK and France, allegedly funnel weapons and funding to fighters against the Houthi rebels, furthering the civil war in Yemen which has been raging for almost a decade. 

What happened after last Biden-MBS interaction?

The last Biden-MBS interaction on July 15, 2022, involved an awkward fist bump and it was not received well. The US President faced severe backlash after all the promises he made. In 2020, during one of his Presidential debates, Biden said he would "make them (the Saudi rulers) pay the price" for the death of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

The next year in 2021, the Biden administration released an intelligence report which said that Kashoggi's murder was approved by MBS. Kashoggi was a staunch critic of the Saudi Crown Prince and he disappeared after entering the Saudi Consulate in Turkey in 2018. Reports say he was killed and his body was dismembered and later disposed off. 

Now that the two leaders came face to face again, it remains to be seen how the world would react to what could be a new start to the Saudi-US bilateral ties.