Prince Saud Al-Faisal, minister of foreign affairs, will hold talks on key bilateral and regional issues with Algerian Foreign Minister Ramtane Lamamra on Tuesday.

The consultations, rich in overtones of regional politics in the Arab world, come within the framework of the second meeting of the Saudi-Algerian Political Consultations initiative.

“After holding talks, Prince Saud and Lamamra will speak to the press at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and spell out details of their discussions,” said a spokeswoman at the ministry.

She pointed out that Lamamra, who has been invited by Prince Saud to visit Riyadh, will co-chair the meeting from the Algerian side.

The talks are important keeping in view the Algerian position on several issues, including Syria.

Prince Saud and the Algerian foreign minister will also examine the political and economic cooperation between the two countries during talks, besides exchanging views on many other Arab, regional and international issues of common concern.

Algeria, a country in the North African region, has been a long-standing ally of the Kingdom.

Both countries are members of the Arab League and OPEC.

Saudi Arabia actively supported the Algerian revolution in 1954. In 1986, the two countries signed economic, cultural and technical agreements.

Algeria did not openly oppose the Kuwaiti invasion of 1990, creating friction with Saudi Arabia, which defended Kuwait at the time along with other countries. Nevertheless, the two countries have forged closer ties on the commercial front.

Saudi investments in Algeria exceeded SR3.5 billion in 2013. Investments are mostly in the pharmacological, cement, mineral, paper and chemical fields.