Crown Prince Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, received on Tuesday Egyptian Prime Minister Hazem Al-Beblawi and his accompanying delegation, who arrived in Riyadh as the head of a high-level ministerial delegation on a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia.

Talks will focus on ways of boosting bilateral relations between the two countries in various fields of economy, trade and investment, and will also address the review of the latest situation in Egypt in light of the implementation of the first phase of the future map related to a referendum on the new constitution followed by the upcoming presidential and parliamentary elections.

The meeting discussed issues of common concern, especially the Syrian crisis and efforts to resolve it peacefully and the Palestinian issue. Prince Salman later hosted a luncheon in honor of the prime minister and his entourage.

Al-Beblawi was earlier received at the King Khaled International Airport by Riyadh Gov. Prince Khaled bin Bandar bin Abdul Aziz. The Egyptian prime minister was accompanied by five ministers, Dr. Ibrahim Demeiri, transport minister, Ibrahim Mahlab, minister of housing, Osama Saleh, minister of investment, Ashraf Al-Arabi, minister of planning, and Sharif Ismail, minister of petroleum.

Egyptian Ambassador to the Kingdom Afifi Abdul-Wahab said earlier that six MOUs (memorandums of understanding) will be signed between the two sides in the fields of encouraging mutual investments, prevention of fiscal evasion in the two countries, customs cooperation, screening before shipping for Egyptian goods, some agreements between the two countries’ investment commissions, and avoiding double taxation on income and capital.

The Egyptian ambassador said that the visit aims to strengthen the economic and trade partnership between the two countries and opening new horizons for cooperation in various fields.

Al-Beblawy intends to hold a series of press interviews Wednesday and will also hold a press conference about the results of the visit.

The Egyptian visit to the Kingdom that began Tuesday received much interest by economic circles in the Kingdom and Egypt. Dr. Mansour bin Saleh Al-Kheizan, a member of the Executive Committee of the Saudi-Egyptian Business Council, confirmed that the volume of Saudi investments in Egypt until last January amounted to $23 billion, making the Kingdom the first among the Arab countries and second worldwide for investments in Egypt.