Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah has made a trip to the Egyptian capital, Cairo, for the first time since the ouster of dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
The Saudi king arrived in Cairo from Morocco, where he was receiving medical assistance, on Friday.
According to reports from Egypt’s state news agency MENA, newly elected Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and King Abdullah held a one-hour meeting on the Saudi ruler’s plane at Cairo Airport.
Egyptian Prime Minister Ibrahim Mahlab and other officials also attended the meeting.
During the meeting, Sisi reportedly “thanked the king for the significant support recently given by Saudi Arabia to Egypt.”
The two sides also talked about a Saudi proposed “Friends of Egypt” conference, aimed at garnering economic support for the country.
Earlier this month, the Saudi king hailed the victory of Sisi as president.
On June 3, Sisi was officially declared president after Egypt’s electoral commission said he had won nearly 97 percent of the vote. The Muslim Brotherhood movement and pro-democracy groups boycotted the election.
The election came nearly one year after Sisi led the ouster of President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
Sisi’s presidency places Egypt back in the hands of a top military official just three years after a popular uprising against Hosni Mubarak, an air force officer who ruled the country for nearly three decades.
In 2013, Riyadh hailed the ouster of Morsi and promised to provide Cairo’s military government with $5 billion in financial aid.
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