Egypt's Sisi to visit Saudi Arabia, US in April

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has accepted an invitation from Saudi Arabia’s King Salman to visit his country in April, Saudi state news agency SPA quoted its foreign minister as saying on Wednesday.

The move is a show of good relations after months of tension between the Arab world’s most populous state and its richest.

SPA quoted Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir as saying the Egyptian president had accepted the invitation and would visit in April.

Read: 30,000 Egyptians encouraged to leave Saudi

Sisi and King Salman met at an Arab summit in Jordan and discussed improving relations, the statement said. The two countries have disagreed over Syria and the transfer of two Red Sea islands from Egypt to Saudi Arabia.

The two countries have been at odds on a number of issues.

Egypt voted in favour of a Russian-backed but Saudi-opposed UN resolution on Syria in October.

In January an Egyptian court rejected a government plan to transfer two uninhabited Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.

The kingdom agreed in April last year to provide Egypt with 700,000 tonnes of refined oil products a month for five years, but the cargoes stopped arriving in early October.

Shipments resumed this month, however, and Egypt’s Petroleum Ministry said they had only been stopped for commercial reasons.

Trump Meeting

The Egyptian general-turned-president will also be welcomed by US President Donald Trump at the White House on April 3, the White House said on Tuesday.

They will discuss how to defeat Daesh and efforts to pursue peace and stability in the region, the White House said in a statement.