Manama: Saudi King Abdullah will arrive in Manama on Sunday in his first visit to Bahrain since he became the ruler in August 2005.
Talks with Bahrain’s leaders during the two-day visit will focus on bilateral relations and cooperation and the latest regional and international developments.
Welcoming the breakthrough visit, Bahraini MPs and officials said they were confident it would “bolster the special ties between the two countries and would spur cooperation in various areas.”
Bahrain Chamber for Commerce and Industry issued a statement that highlighted the political and business ties between the two neighbours and hailed the visit as a consolidation of their robust relations.
The Islamic Menbar and several MPs have also issued statements to welcome the Saudi monarch and express their support to political coordination between Manama and Riyadh. Several Bahraini organizations published long articles to greet the Saudi monarch and stress “the cordiality and special ties uniting the two countries.”
Bahrain and Saudi Arabia are linked via a 25-kilometre causeway opened in November 1986 and used daily by an average of 21,188 cars, vehicles and trucks from both sides of the shores.
King Abdulaziz Al Saud, Saudi Arabia’s first ruler, visited Bahrain in 1930 and then in May 1939 and was given a highly emotional official and popular welcome as he sailed into Manama harbour.
King Saud Ibn Abdulaziz came to Bahrain in 1954 shortly after he became the country’s second ruler. King Khalid made a visit in 1976 and King Fahad in 1982 laid the foundation stone of the causeway that was later to bear his name.
The latest visit by Bahrain’s King Hamad Bin Isa Al Khalifa to Saudi Arabia was last month when he attended the Janadriya Festival.
