Saudi King Salman to visit Egypt’s parliament on Sunday

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Bin Abdel-Aziz will visit Egypt’s parliament on Sunday in his five-day visit to the country to start on Thursday, deputy head of the parliament Soliman Wahdan told reporters on Wednesday.

Wahdan added that Salman may give a speech during his what he described as “historic visit” to parliament.

Official sources told Ahram Online on Tuesday that Egypt will sign four funding accords with Saudi Arabia worth roughly $22 billion during the Saudi king’s first official visit to Cairo since he rose to power in January 2015.

Egypt is expected to finalise two framework agreements for soft loans signed in March, with the first worth around $20 billion to finance its five-year petroleum needs from the oil-rich kingdom.

The second agreement is worth $1.5 billion for 12 development projects in Sinai, while the third is for a concessional loan worth $120 million to renovate Cairo’s historical Kasr El-Aini Hospital.

The fourth and final agreement is for a $100 million loan to finance the expansion of the West Cairo power station to generate an additional 650 megawatts.

Saudi Arabia has supported Cairo with billions of dollars in aid, grants, oil products and cash deposits to help buoy the country’s economy following the toppling of president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

source: Ahram online