KSA supports Egypt in its war against terrorism: MBS

CAIRO – 7 March 2018: Prime Minister Sherif Ismail stressed on Tuesday that Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman’s (MBS) visit to Egypt is a new impetus for existing relations between Saudi Arabia and Egypt, as it opens new economic cooperation between the two states in different fields.

In his meeting with Salman on Tuesday, Ismail noted that ties between Egypt and Saudi Arabia have historically been strong, praising the political leaderships of the two states for their concern to advance cooperation in different fields.

On the other hand, Salman expressed his appreciation for the efforts exerted by Egypt in implementing the social and economic reform program and to the development of economic relations to benefit from promising investment opportunities between the two countries.

He confirmed that Saudi Arabia supports Egypt in its war against terrorism, which the whole region faces, to eradicate and uproot this phenomenon from the region and dry out its funding sources for hindering sustainable development in different fields.

A new era of economic ties between Egypt and Saudi Arabia were brought to the fore as a number of agreements and memoranda of understanding in various investment and environmental protection projects were signed inked between both sides over the past three days.

The main agreement was an amendment to an earlier deal between the Egyptian Ministry of Investment and International Cooperation and the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF)for setting up a $16 billion Egyptian-Saudi investment fund to inject Saudi investments in a number of projects across Egypt's governorates.

In December, Sisi received a phone call from the Saudi Crown Prince, during which they discussed bilateral ties.

Sisi and bin Salman met on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Hangzhou, China in September 2016, following a visit to Cairo by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz in April. Both leaders discussed stepping up cooperation between Egypt and Saudi Arabia across all fields.

Salman will pay a visit to the United Kingdom on March 7 to meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May, prior to his visit to the United States on March 19 to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump.