Morsi's visit cements Egyptian-Saudi ties

Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi (L) is greeted by Saudi Prince Abdul Aziz Bin Majed, Emir of Madinah, at the end of his visit to the Mosque of Prophet Mohammed in Madinah July 12, 2012. [Photo/Agencies]

CAIRO - Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi wrapped up his first foreign visit to Saudi Arabia on Thursday aimed at consolidating bilateral relations between the two key players in the region.

Morsi had talks with Saudi King Abdullah ben Abdel Aziz on Wednesday and met representatives of Egyptian expatriates there. The talks focused on boosting bilateral relations in all areas, especially investment.

"This visit is a message to show Egypt's keenness to cooperate with the Gulf countries, top of which is Saudi Arabia, despite the change of Egypt's rulers," Amin Shalabi, director of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Relations, told Xinhua.

Morsi's choice to visit Saudi brought reassurance to the Gulf States which fear similar turmoil in Egypt might happen on their lands, Shalabi added.

Morsi stressed that Egypt will not "export revolution" to other countries and attach great importance to the stability and security of the Gulf region.

Morsi, who defeated ex-Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq in the presidential run-off, was sworn in as Egypt's president on June 30. He became the first democratically elected civilian president of Egypt over the past six decades.

Saudi Arabia has been a close partner to Egypt for decades and injected huge investment in Egypt. This year, the oil-rich country has granted 1 billion U.S. dollars to Egypt's central bank to preserve its falling foreign reserves, in addition to other forms of loans to support Egypt's economy.

Refaat Sayed, chief of Cairo-based Yafa Center for Political Studies, said the visit showed Egypt is seeking help from Saudi Arabia to push its economic cycle which has slowed down after its uprising.

Shalabi said the visit also showed Egypt makes it a priority to develop the relations with the Gulf states.

Egypt and Saudi represent the basic pillars of security and stability in the Middle East, and the cooperation and coordination between them is an urgent matter, he said.

A brief diplomatic row took place in April between the two countries after Saudi Arabia closed its embassy in Cairo for several days due to the protests against the arrest of an Egyptian lawyer by Saudi authorities over illegal drugs.

Egypt then moved quickly to mend the ties by sending a delegation to Riyadh to reaffirm the deep relations of the two nations.

Meanwhile, Iran has invited Morsi to visit Tehran in late August to attend the Non-Alignment Movement Summit, showing its willingness to improve relations with Egypt after the fall of Egypt's ex-President Hosni Mubarak.

"Any steps of Egypt to improve relations with Iran wouldn't come at the expense of affecting its relations with the Gulf," said Shalabi, who added the Cairo-Riyadh relations will become more consolidated due to common interests.