CAIRO (AP) – The leaders of Egypt and Saudi Arabia have met in the kingdom, officials said Monday. It’s the first visit by top officials in months as Egypt battles a domestic economic crisis.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto leader of Saudi Arabia, held talks late Sunday that focused on ties between the two sides, according to Egyptian presidential spokesman Ahmed Fahmy.
Fahmy said in a statement that the two leaders “affirmed mutual concern for promoting common cooperation in all fields.” They also agreed to continue “coordination and consultation” on regional and international topics, he added.
The statement did not give further details. The meeting came as el-Sissi’s government is struggling to overcome an economic crisis blamed on the war in Europe, but what critics say is resulting from mismanagement of the economy. The two sides are also both seeking to mend their frayed ties with other regional powers, including Iran and Turkey.
“I affirm the depth and strength of the bilateral relations between Egypt and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” el-Sissi tweeted after returning to Egypt early Monday.
Bin Salman, widely known in the west by the acronym MBS, received el-Sissi in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah on the Red Sea. Images aired by state-run media in the two countries showed the crown prince waiting for the Egyptian president on the tarmac.
Other officials from both countries attended the talks, including Abbas Kamel, head of Egypt’s General Intelligence Authority, and Musaed bin Mohammed al-Aiban, Saudi national security adviser, according to the Saudi official news agency.
The surprise trip was the first announced encounter between the two since they met in Qatar during the opening of the World Cup. El-Sissi also received bin Salman in Cairo in June 2022 ahead of President Joe Biden’s Mideast trip.
Saudi Arabia and other Arab Persian Gulf states have been the main suppliers of aid to the Egyptian government, which has been struggling to overcome a staggering economic crisis. In 2022, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates pledged a total of $22 billion in deposits and direct investments in Egypt, in a bid to stabilize its battered economy.