Egyptian delegation visiting Saudi Arabia to ‘clear the air’

Senior Egyptian officials are part of a delegation which travelled by private jet to Riyadh a few days ago for what have been reported as “clear the air” meetings, claim sources in Cairo. According to pro-government newspaper Sadah Al-Balad, although the visit is scheduled to be brief, the delegation will meet with a number of senior Saudi officials and dignitaries to discuss the latest developments in the region, within the framework of the strategic relationship between the two countries.

The professor of international relations in the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at Cairo University pointed out that the main objective of the visit is to clear the air once more. Dr Mohammed Hussein told Sadah Al-Balad that the strained relations will affect a “number of journalists from both sides” who are looking for a way to report accurately what is supposed to be a discrete series of meetings.

Recent tension between Riyadh and Cairo followed disagreements when Egypt voted against a French bill on Syria in the UN Security Council which Saudi Arabia was backing. The Saudi government later placed an import ban on certain Egyptian products, allegedly because of contamination.