King Salman, El-Sisi announce building of Saudi-Egypt bridge

King Salman of Saudi Arabia announced on Friday after meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo that a bridge will be built linking Saudi Arabia to Egypt across the Red Sea.

"I agreed with my brother, his Excellency President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, to build a bridge connecting the two countries," Salman 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.

The Saudi king hailed the new bridge an "historic move which links the African and Asian continents [and] is considered to be a quantum leap which will increase trade movements between them in an unprecedented way."

The Egyptian president told the news conference in Cairo that strategic cooperation between the two countries "represents a milestone in solving many of the region's crises."

Saudi Arabia is expected to sign a $20 billion deal to finance Egypt's oil needs for the next five years and a $1.5 billion deal to develop its Sinai region, two Egyptian government sources told Reuters.

However, no such deals were announced during the news conference.

Saudi businessmen are investing $4 billion in projects including the Suez Canal, energy and agriculture, and have already deposited 10 percent of that sum in Egyptian banks, the deputy head of the Saudi-Egyptian Business Council said this week.