S Arabia, Egypt to build bridge

Cairo - Anatolia News Agency

Saudi Arabia and Egypt have agreed to undertake a project to build a bridge linking the two countries and plan to make a preliminary payment of $3 billion.

Economists believe that the project will increase trade ties between the two countries and will be a transit point for citizen of the Gulf States to go to North Africa.

The project also holds strategic importance for Turkey given recent tensions with Syria. In the future Turkey will be able to ship its products to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries first by ship from Turkey’s southern port of Mersin to Egypt and then on land via the bridge to Saudi Arabia. Furthermore, the bridge over the Red Sea between Saudi Arabia and Egypt will also ease the shipment of oil from the Gulf to the Mediterranean.