Cairo: Egypt is giving a warm welcome to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, who is visiting the Suez Canal on the second of his three-day visit to the Arab world’s most populous country.
Posters featuring Prince Mohammad’s face alongside that of President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi are lining the major axes of central Cairo.
A screengrab showing Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman with Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi during a visit to Suez Canal. Prince Mohammad is visiting the canal on the second of his three-day visit to the Arab world’s most populous country. — Screengrab
The crown prince and Al Sissi boarded a boat from a red carpeted dock to inspect the canal on Monday.
Egypt seeks investments from Saudi Arabia to help develop the area, where Cairo wants to establish an international transport, logistics and production hub.
Egypt has committed more than 1,000 square kilometres of land in the southern Sinai Peninsula to a planned $500 billion (Dh1.8 trillion) mega-city announced by Saudi Arabia last year, a Saudi official told Reuters on Monday.
The territory along the Red Sea is part of a joint $10 billion fund announced by the two countries late on Sunday.
Riyadh’s portion will be cash to help develop the Egyptian side of the NEOM project, which was conceived as spanning across Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.