During his stay in Saudi Arabia, Kerry "will reaffirm the strategic nature of the US-Saudi relationship, given the importance of the work between our two countries on shared challenges," State Department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said in a statement on Thursday.
The top US diplomat will also visit Poland, Israel, occupied Palestinian territories, Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, Algeria and Morocco during the trip from November 3 to 11, she added.
The trip comes as ties have strained with Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, over Washington's failure to launch military strikes against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s intelligence chief, Bandar bin Sultan, indicated that the kingdom plans to scale back its cooperation with Washington on Syria, threatening to take the alliance to its lowest points in years.
The spymaster said the United States had failed to take concrete steps to undermine Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and reinforce the armed groups fighting to remove him from power.
Riyadh earlier this month turned down a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council, in what Bandar said was “a message for the US.”
After meeting with Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, Kerry will travel to Poland, where the controversy over alleged National Security Agency (NSA) spying is sure to be raised. He will return to the Mideast for talks with Israeli, Palestinian Authority, Jordanian and Emirati officials
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