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CAIRO, May 10, 2012 (AFP)
Saudi Arabia on Thursday agreed to an aid package to support the Egyptian Central Bank and allow Egypt to buy fuel after a diplomatic spat between the countries, officials said.
The Saudi embassy in Cairo said the kingdom signed an agreement to “deposit $1 billion in the Egyptian Central Bank.”
Egypt’s minister for international cooperation, Fayza Abul Naga, added that her government was coordinating with Saudi Arabia to receive another $500 million for development projects and $250 million to buy “petroleum products.”
King Abdullah ordered the reopening of the Saudi mission in Cairo last week after the ambassador was recalled and the embassy shut in the wake of angry protests there.
The decision was announced after the monarch received a top-ranking Egyptian delegation seeking to defuse tension between Cairo and Riyadh, which urged him to reopen the embassy.
Egypt’s economy nosedived after a popular uprising ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, setting off an uncertain military-led transitional period scheduled to conclude by the end of June with presidential elections.
