Saudi aid to Egypt 'dependent' on Syria policy shift

An Egyptian official has said that Saudi Arabia's billions of dollars of promised aid and loans to Egypt hinges on a shift in policy by Cairo towards Syria.

Saudi Arabia pledged a total of eight billion dollars in investment and petrol aid to Egypt over the next five years, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announced on Tuesday during the second Egyptian-Saudi Coordination Council in Cairo.

"Saudi Arabia has not yet made specific promises about the loans and aid it will give Egypt. All that has been agreed on so far is the petrol aid," the official in the Egyptian Ministry of Economic Development told al-Araby al-Jadeed.

"The Saudis are very reluctant to make concreate promises. All the preliminary agreements are dependent on resolving the disagreements between the two countries, particularly Egypt's role in regards to Syria," the offical, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said.

Egypt relations with Syria and Iran as well as its reluctance to follow Riyadh's policy have recently been points of contention between the two long-time allies.

Over Syria,  there have been signs of a warming of ties between the Sisi government and the Assad regime over recent weeks with a Syrian minister Mohammad Walid Ghazal visiting Cairo in a first visit by a Syrian official in three years.

And in September,  the head of Syria's National Security Bureau Ali Mamlouk also paid a visit to the Egyptian capital and met with President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and other senior military, intelligence and security officials. 
 

See Also: Egypt no friend of the Gulf say prominent Saudis

Saudi Arabia has backed the Syrian opposition and has been steadfast in its insistence that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must step down for there to be peace in the war-torn country, as of yet Egypt has not taken a definite position against Bashar.

Saudi Arabia has offered billions of dollars in aid to Egypt since the 2013 military coup against Islamist president Mohammad Morsi.

In March, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates each offered $4 billion in investment and aid.

An Egyptian government official told local media that Saudi Arabia will make good on the remaining $2 billion from the sum it pledged to Egypt in March, with $750 going to import machinery for a land reclamation project, smart home

The pledges come despite a sharp fall in Saudi Arabia's income from oil.

electricity meters and supporting the manufacture of a Hepatitis C drug.

Another $750 million will come in the form of soft loans to fund government development projects for education, health, energy and infrastructure.

Egypt will receive a further $500 million but the official refused to give more details.

Saudi ships will also "support" traffic in the Suez Canal.

Egypt requires 500 thousand tonnes of diesel, 300 thousand tonnes of butane gas, 150 thousand tonnes of gasoline and 500 thousand tonnes of fuel oil each month.

The pledges come despite a sharp fall in Saudi Arabia's income from oil, which makes up over 90 percent of public revenues, due to the global decline in crude prices since June last year.

Egypt has said it is taking part in a Saudi-led coalition that has been battling the Houthi rebels in Yemen since March.

It is also participating in a 34-member alliance to fight "terrorism", which was announced on Tuesday by Prince Mohammad.

During his visit to Egypt, Sunni Islam's leading seat of learning, al-Azhar, urged all Muslim countries to join the new coalition.

Cairo is fighting a swelling insurgency led by the Islamic State group in the Sinai Peninsula.

Human rights groups have criticised the Egyptian government for carrying out a crackdown on Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood that has left hundreds dead and tens of thousands imprisoned.