Saudi Crown Prince: kingdom will stay Egypt’s ‘loyal brother’

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud stressed the kingdom’s commitment to supporting Egypt when he took part in the ceremony inaugurating Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi new president in Cairo on Sunday.

“Saudi Arabia as [a] government and nation and under the direction of King Abdullah Abdul Aziz al-Saud will stay as a loyal brother - standing side by side - to our brother Egypt in hard and good times,” Saudi state news agency (SPA) quoted Prince Salman as saying.

After arriving in Cairo, he expressed at a press conference his “happiness for this occasion which represents a turning point for Egypt toward security, stability and sustainable development.”

“We hope by God’s willing that after electing Sisi, Egypt will enter a new period,” he added.

He also said that King Abdullah thinks of this day as a decisive one for Egypt, where the period of “chaos” will be halted.

After the ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Mursi in July, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates since have provided billions of dollars to shore up Egypt’s ailing finances.

Like Egypt after the toppling of Mursi, Saudi Arabia outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood movement - which Mursi had hailed from - in the kingdom.

“In this day, Egyptians wrote their future with their hands, to face challenges and to build a future matching to its ability and civilization,” the crown prince said.

SPA said the crown prince left to Egypt “to participate on behalf of…King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud in the inauguration ceremony.”

Meanwhile, the crown prince also met with Sisi for talks.

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz and Minister of Culture and Information Abdulaziz bin Mohiuddin Khoja accompanied the crown prince in the meeting.

Egypt’s Prime Minister Ibrahim Muhalab and Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmi accompanied Sisi.

Sisi won a landslide victory in presidential elections held last month, receiving nearly 97 percent of the vote, with a turnout of 47.45 percent.

As a former Army commander, he took the oath of president at the Supreme Constitutional Court in a suburb of Cairo before making his way to the presidential palace where he delivered an inaugural speech and was officially handed over power of the Arab world’s most populous country.