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Donor meeting to dominate Saudi king's talks in Egypt: Source

June 20, 2014 at 10:21 am

A proposed donor conference to support Egypt’s economy is expected to dominate Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz’s talks with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi in Cairo, a Saudi diplomatic source said Friday.

“King Abdullah’s visit is a strong message of support [for Egypt],” the source told Anadolu Agency, requesting anonymity.

Diplomatic sources said Thursday that the Saudi monarch will visit Egypt on Friday on his way back from Morocco, where he had spent time on a private holiday.

No official confirmation, however, has been made from any of the two countries.

According to the Saudi source, talks between the Saudi and Egyptian leaders will dwell on a host of issues, including a donor conference proposed by Riyadh to support Egypt’s economy.

The Saudi king called earlier this month for a donor conference to support Egypt’s economy.

The talks will also focus on regional developments, including the situation in Iraq, the Palestinian cause and the Syrian and Libyan files, the source said.

The visit is the first by King Abdullah to Egypt since a 2011 uprising, which ended the autocracy of long-serving president Hosni Mubarak, who was also a longstanding ally for Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia had been among the first Arab countries to welcome the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi last year by the army following opposition protests and offered billions of dollars to prop up Egypt’s foundering economy.

In March, Saudi Arabia labelled Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood group a “terrorist organization.” The move came three months after the Egyptian government took a similar decision.