Bahrain, Qatar royals invited to dine with Trump at White House

The prime ministers of Bahrain and Qatar were set to visit the White House on Wednesday as the two countries roll out billions of dollars in investments with the U.S. government and American firms.

Bahrain’s Premier, Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, was scheduled for an Oval Office chat with President Donald Trump in the late morning, followed by lunch. Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani meets Trump for dinner at 7 p.m.

After arriving in Washington on Tuesday, Prince Salman held meetings with Trump administration officials and announced a series of business agreements at a ceremony organized by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Among the deals was a $2 billion agreement between Bahrain’s sovereign wealth fund, Mumtalakat, and a consortium of American companies in aluminum-related industries. Cisco signed a deal to provide digital solutions for Bahrain’s government telecommunications network.

Citing a free-trade agreement between the two countries, Prince Salman said Bahrain serves “as a gateway for American companies to access lucrative regional markets.”

The Prince said New Jersey-based SubCom won a contract to build an 800-kilometer (500-mile) multi-fiber submarine cable linking Bahrain to Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Iraq. He also announced that direct commercial flights would soon begin between Bahrain and New York City.

Qatar, which is acting as a mediator in Gaza talks with Israel, Hamas and the U.S., caused a stir during Trump’s Mideast visit in May, when the Gulf state offered the President a $400 million plane to replace the aging Air Force One.