RIYADH – Saudi Arabia’s de facto crown prince, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, made a stopover in Egypt on Monday, official news firm SPA reported, starting his first excursion out of the Gulf region in more than 3 years. It will also stop in Jordan and Turkey.
The prince is ahead of U. S. President Joe Biden’s stopover in the region next month, who is expected to meet with Arab leaders in Saudi Arabia after a stopover in Israel, with the clash of Ukraine and regional security on the agenda.
Prince Mohammed, known as MbS, will hold talks with the leaders of Egypt, Jordan and Turkey on strengthening bilateral cooperation and issues of common interest, SPA said.
The sources said MbS and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi would discuss issues such as the effect of the war on Ukraine and arrangements for Biden’s trip to the region in mid-July.
The prince is expected to travel to Amman on Tuesday for talks with King Abdullah about ties strained by regional rivalries and unfulfilled Saudi promises to shore up Jordan’s economy, diplomats and resources familiar with the plans said.
It would be the prince’s first outing to the Gulf since the 2018 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi and the COVID-19 pandemic. MbS visited Egypt in 2018 and Japan in 2019.
Khashoggi’s killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul strained the kingdom’s ties with Washington and Ankara.
Biden said Friday that he will not explicitly travel to Saudi Arabia to meet with MbS, but that he sees the crown prince as part of a larger “international meeting” expected to come with leaders of the Gulf Arab states, Jordan, Egypt and Iraq.
Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has to re-establish ties with Riyadh, adding that he has abandoned a Turkish trial for Khashoggi’s murder. Analysts say Saudi investment could help ease Turkey’s economic woes.
Erdogan, who visited the kingdom in April for the first time in years, said he would welcome Prince Mohammed on Wednesday.
“A new era will begin and there will be total normalization. As part of the visit, agreements will be signed in the fields of energy, economy and security,” a senior Turkish official said. (Reporting via Nayera Abdallah, Suleiman al-Khalidi and Orhan Coskun; written by Aziz El Yaakoubi; edited by Philippa Fletcher)
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