RIYADH: Ethiopian premier to meet king today

Visiting Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Dessalegn, who is slated to meet Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman on Monday, held talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Naif, deputy premier and minister of interior, at his palace on Sunday.

Besides his talks with the crown prince, the visiting premier also met Commerce and Investment Minister Majid Al-Qassabi, Deputy Minister of Finance Hamad bin Sulaiman Al-Bazei and attended a reception hosted by Ambassador Amin Abdulkadir in his honor, where he met a large number of Ethiopian expatriates in the capital. There are around 1 million Ethiopian workers in the Kingdom.

On arrival at the Riyadh airbase, the prime minister was received by the crown prince, Riyadh Gov. Prince Faisal bin Bandar, State Minister and Cabinet Member usaed bin Mohammed Al-Aiban, and a number of senior government officials.

The high-powered delegation of the premier also included Abraham Tekeste, Ethiopian minister of finance and economic development, Defense Minister Siraj Fergessa, Ambassador Berhane Gebre-Christos, and the prime minister’s adviser, Sufian Ahmed, who is also adviser on fiscal policy.

Minister Feisel Aliyi at the Ethiopian Embassy here told Arab News that the purpose of the visit is to strengthen relations between the two countries in the political and economic sectors, which also would include people-to-people relations.

Aliyi said there has been a dramatic growth of Saudi investment in Ethiopia during the last couple of years.

There are 303 Saudi projects operating in Ethiopia and investment between the two countries has reached SR 7 billion. The projects have created more than 58,798 permanent and 189,695 temporary employment opportunities in Ethiopia.

source arabnews