Mohammed bin Salman will not attend the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro due to a chronic ear canal disease. The decision could also be influenced by Putin's absence and the end of Biden's presidency.
The de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, has decided to skip next week's G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Bloomberg reports, citing an informed source, UNN .
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The most likely reason is that a flight of more than 14 hours from the Saudi capital Riyadh to the Brazilian city could worsen a chronic ear canal disease that the 39-year-old suffers from, according to the source.
The Saudi leader has in the past experienced ear congestion and inflammation that lasted several days after long-haul flights, the source said. He has previously canceled foreign trips at the last minute, including a state visit to Japan this year when his ailing 88-year-old father, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, was being treated for pneumonia.
A spokesman for the Saudi government declined to comment.
Prince Mohammed is the prime minister and manages the day-to-day affairs of the kingdom in view of the Saudi monarch's poor health. Last year, he attended the G20 summit in New Delhi.
The absence of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and the fact that Joe Biden's presidency in the United States ends in two months may have influenced Prince Mohammed's decision, the source added.
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The Saudi crown prince, who enjoys a warm relationship with Donald Trump, was one of the first world leaders to call the US president-elect to congratulate him immediately after his victory earlier this month. The royal, as the newspaper notes, is also close to Putin. russia and Saudi Arabia, which are among the world's five largest oil producers, continue to work together to manage market supply through the OPEC+ coalition they jointly lead.
Putin, as the newspaper recalls, high-fived Prince Mohammed during the G20 summit in Buenos Aires in 2018, when the Saudi prince was ostracized by many Western leaders after the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate.
The United States and its allies have since put Khashoggi's case behind them, given the kingdom's political and economic weight and its increasingly prominent role in global finance. The crown prince has launched his multi-trillion dollar master plan, known as Vision 2030, to open up the once ultra-conservative and mysterious country, reduce its dependence on oil, and propel it into the world's 10 largest economies, the publication notes.