Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah and Crown Prince Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, will visit Egypt in the near future, Saudi Ambassador to Cairo Ahmed Kattan announced Wednesday.
Egyptian President Muhammad Mursi visited the Kingdom last week, his first foreign trip after taking oath as president on June 30. He met with King Abdullah and Prince Salman to discuss regional and international issues.
Ambassador Kattan commended President Mursi on his statement that Egypt considers Saudi Arabia’s security of utmost importance. President Mursi pledged he would remove all obstacles facing Saudi investors in his country and offered reassurance to Saudis their investments of $ 27 billion in Egypt would be protected.
But Ambassador Kattan said future Saudi investment in Egypt would depend on how the Egyptian government tackles the problems faced by investors after the 2011 revolution.
“The Saudi-Egyptian Business Council will meet next month to discuss joint investment projects including a $ 350 million Gardaga tourism project, which has been delayed,” he said.
Saudi Arabia agreed to provide financial aid of $ 3.9 billion to Egypt before the election of the new president. The number of Egyptians working in the Kingdom increased after the revolution. According to one estimate there are 1.7 million Egyptian workers in Saudi Arabia.
The ambassador said a number of Egyptian prisoners in the Kingdom would be released during an amnesty to be declared by King Abdullah during Ramadan. “The Saudi Embassy in Cairo currently issues visas to their relatives to visit them. We also provide them with plane tickets and accommodation,” he added.
The ambassador said the new Saudi Embassy building on the Nile would be opened in November.
