Intent on offering his condolences and meeting Abdullah's successor in person, Obama led an exceptionally high-powered delegation to Riyadh that included former secretaries of state, past presidential candidates and senior military commanders.
"Compromise is possible on issues like movement of [Palestinian] players and equipment, if a mechanism can be agreed," a member of the Palestinian delegation told the Guardian.
"One delegation has a general reserve on the text," the ambassadors stated in the final draft of the document.
The chief reason for Australia's politician-free delegation, is that Mr Abbott's cabinet, including his Environment Minister Greg Hunt, are busy trying to push through laws to repeal the country's carbon price legislation and replace it with a "direct action plan".
Back in 1997, Australia's delegation pulled what they saw as a masterstroke during post-midnight negotiations on the final day in Japan.
But Guardian Australia understands the inclusion of this "target range" in a negotiating brief for the Australian delegation to the UN climate conference in Warsaw prompted a lengthy and unresolved discussion in federal Cabinet last Monday and that the matter is due to be discussed again this Monday.
The GCC delegation is also rumoured to be angry that they may have been misled by secretary of state John Kerry about the extent to which the US is willing to provide a formal mutual-defence agreement of the type it extends to other non-nuclear allies, such as Japan.
Meanwhile, having declined an invitation to take part in a major commemoration ceremony to mark the end of the second world war, in protest at Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea, Angela Merkel and a small diplomatic delegation will travel to Moscow for a deliberately low-key event on 10 May, where she and Putin will lay wreaths on the grave of the Unknown Soldier.
Among those there was Carol Wilcox, from Christchurch CLP ("Don't tell my delegation; they'll go nuts), a platform speaker at Labour during the economic debate on the previous day, who came to push her case for a land tax.
Gehri was listed as an attendee at UN climate change negotiations in 2005 in Montreal, 2006 in Germany, 2007 in Indonesia, 2008 in Poland, and 2009 in Germany and his attendance was always as part of a delegation from the Edison Electric Institute, an association representing US investor-owned electricity utility companies.
A high-profile German delegation, including diplomatic attachés, came over to London to present the plant, which was to be showcased at the Liverpool garden festival.
