Egypt s Sisi to visit Saudi Arabia after tensions

Cairo April 22 (IANS) Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will start an official visit to Saudi Arabia on Sunday in an effort to break the ice after months of tensions.

During the upcoming visit Sisi will meet King Salman and the two leaders will tackle their different points and how to enhance their ties.

They will also discuss regional and international issues of common concern especially combating terrorism Xinhua news agency reported.

President al-Sisi met the Saudi king on March 30 on the sidelines of an Arab summit in Jordan in which Salman invited Sisi to visit Saudi Arabia.

The invitation came days after Saudi state oil company Aramco resumed delivering Egypt petroleum products suspended last October when Egypt voted for a Russian-drafted UN Security Council resolution on Syria that Saudi Arabia strongly opposed.

Then in January an Egyptian court ruling blocked the handover of two Red Sea islands signed during a visit by Salman to Cairo last April to Saudi.

Saudi Arabia supported Egypt with billions of dollars in aid after the ouster of the Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

--IANS
qd/