CAIRO: Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz met the Egyptian delegation in Riyadh on Thursday for a fence-mending visit aiming to defuse the crisis between Egypt and Saudi Arabia. The delegation, comprising lawmakers and public figures, is headed by People's Assembly Speaker Saad Katatni and Shura Council Speaker Ahmed Fahmi. The delegation also met a host of Saudi officials. The Egyptian delegation delivered a message to the Saudi King (whom also uses the title ‘the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques') to assert the deeply-rooted relations binding both countries. The message stressed the significance of the strategic relations between Cairo and Riyadh, Nabil Bakr, the media advisor of the Egyptian embassy in Riyadh, said. The visit by the parliamentary delegation came to boost the official efforts to bring the Egyptian-Saudi relations to normal, he added, according to a rather formal and diplomatic press release by Egypt's State Information Service. Meanwhile, Saudi Ambassador to Egypt Ahmed Al Qatan denied any crisis between Saudi Arabia and Egypt adding that the decision of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to call up the Saudi Ambassador from Cairo meant to protect relations between the two countries and to avoid the deterioration of relations. Al Qatan referred to the visit of the high level Egyptian delegation to Saudi Arabia saying the delegation would be warmly welcomed as the visit affirms the strong relations linking the two countries and that what happened before the Saudi embassy in Cairo represented only very few of the people of Egypt. On when he will be back to Cairo, Qatan said it is up to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to decide on that. He affirmed that the issue of the Egyptian lawyer-activist, Gizawi, whom is in custody in Saudi Arabia on alleged drug-smuggling charges, does not deserve discussions at present. On the Saudi aid program to Egypt, Al Qatan said the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques ordered sending $500 million in June to support Egypt's anemic budget. Al Qatan praised the great role played by Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi who telephoned the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques whom, in his turn, promised him to take up the decision that guarantees the interests of the Two Holy Mosques in the coming stage. Recent protests outside the Saudi embassy in Egypt, over the arrest of Gizawi, sent off alarm bells, as last year a mob of protesters climbed the building housing the Israeli embassy in Cairo, breached the embassy and sacked the offices therein.
