WORLD
Saudi Arabia and Egypt announce Red Sea bridge
Baku, April 9, AZERTAC
Saudi Arabia's king has announced that a bridge linking the country to Egypt will be built over the Red Sea, according to BBC.
King Salman said in a statement that the bridge would boost commerce between the two allies.
He made the announcement during the second day of his visit to the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi said the bridge would be named after the Saudi king.
"I agreed with my brother his Excellency President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi to build a bridge connecting the two countries" the king said.
"This historic step to connect the two continents, Africa and Asia, is a qualitative transformation that will increase trade between the two continents to unprecedented levels" he added.
President Sisi said it marked "a new chapter on the road of Arab joint action".
A Red Sea bridge linking the two countries has been proposed several times before but has failed to become a reality.
Previous estimates for the bridge project suggested a cost of around $3-4bn (£2-3bn), but no further information has yet been released for the latest plan.
King Salman is currently on a five-day visit to Egypt, where he is expected to announce more trade and co-operation agreements.