WASHINGTON: Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to the United States has been welcomed by politicians and business leaders as he seeks to drum up investment and seek partnerships with American firms, according to reports in American media this week.

Under Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, the deputy crown prince, as chairman of the Council for Economic and Development Affairs, is leading the Kingdom’s biggest-ever economic shakeup, moving to cut subsidies and diversify the economy away from oil by generating an extra $100 billion in non-oil revenue by 2020.

Saudi Arabia is counting on US investors to help support its efforts to diversify and accelerate growth in its $750 billion economy, the reports said.

“He clearly expressed in detail a vision for the Saudi economic strategy, security strategy, and the reason why he sees the relationship with the United States important for the country,” Democratic Sen. Ben Cardin said on Tuesday after meeting the deputy crown prince. “He’s very impressive,” Cardin was quoted as saying in one report.

“US-Saudi relations are much better than often portrayed,” said Bruce Riedel, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who spent 30 years at the Central Intelligence Agency and served on the National Security Council. “The Obama administration has sold the Kingdom over $110 billion in arms in seven years. The president has traveled to Saudi Arabia more than any other country in the Middle East. So we should not let honest differences of opinion obscure the strength of the partnership.”

That idea was echoed by Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who called the Saudis “an important ally. They’re not perfect, nor are we. But I think the deputy crown prince represents a bright future, and we just need to keep the alliance.”

“No one is saying, ‘buy me a first-class ticket’ to Riyadh, but there’s a lot to be learned about what Saudi Arabia is proposing,” said Stephen Seche, executive vice president of the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington and a former ambassador to Yemen. For the Saudis, “this is a watershed moment and they would like to see the US respond,” he added.

According to a Bloomberg report, the name of Republican front-runner Donald Trump didn’t come up, said House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Michael McCaul, a Republican from Texas. “Not at all,” seconded House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi.

Terrorism did. “We talked about greater coordination on not only coalition forces and military efforts against ISIS but also countering from an ideology standpoint, how to counter violent extremism and the spread of that ideology,” McCaul added.

After his Washington visit, the prince will make a stop in San Francisco, according to Pelosi, who represents the city. That would give him the opportunity to meet with Silicon Valley technology executives.