Adly Mansour, Egypt’s interim president, has praised Saudi Arabia for supporting the Egyptian people after the ousting of the Muslim Brotherhood government.

Mansour said this support encouraged him to visit the Kingdom in his first foreign tour after his appointment.

“Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah was the first to congratulate me when I became the head of state. I received the king’s cable of congratulations even before taking the oath of office,” Mansour said in a statement carried by the Kuwait News Agency on Saturday.

“The Kingdom threw all its political and economic weight behind the will of the Egyptian people,” Mansour said. He said the June 30 revolution was the manifestation of the Egyptian people’s will to reject attempts to destabilize the country’s security and interfere in its internal affairs. He said King Abdullah’s statement of support issued on Aug. 16 shaped international attitude toward the revolution.

During his visit to Kuwait, Mansour met Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, emir of Kuwait, to thank him for his support.

Kuwait pledged $4 billion in aid to Egypt shortly after Muhammed Mursi was ousted in July. It received $2 billion of this amount in September — $1 billion in the form of a grant and $1 billion in oil.

Gulf countries including Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were among the main supporters of the new Egyptian government formed after mass protests.