Jordan Times
Saturday, April 3,1999
King to begin visit to Saudi Arabia on Sunday
By Caroline Faraj
AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah is due to begin a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia on Sunday for talks with King Fahd, a government official said on Friday.
“The two monarchs will exchange views on issues of mutual concern and discuss ways to strengthen bilateral ties in all fields,” the official, who asked not to be named, told the Jordan Times.
King Abdullah's planned visit to Saudi Arabia was announced on Thursday following Saudi Minister of State Madani Allaqi's meeting with the King. Allaqi delivered an invitation from King Fahd to King Abdullah.
“The visit will be a very important opportunity for exchanging views with our brothers in Saudi Arabia on both bilateral and regional issues,” the King was quoted by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, as saying.
King Abdullah is also expected to perform the lesser pilgrimage (Umra) on behalf of his father King Hussein, in accordance with Islamic Sharia.
“King Hussein was planning to perform Umra after completing his medical treatment, but he was defeated by cancer,” said the official.
Also this month, King Abdullah is scheduled to visit several Arab and Gulf States, including Syria, Egypt, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and other countries.
Following the death of King Hussein on Feb. 7, many countries offered to extend assistance to Jordan to help steer the Kingdom through upcoming challenges.
Jordanian officials have expressed hopes of seeing these recent pledges by Arab countries and other allies translated into tangible figures.
“During the tour, bilateral relations will top Jordan's agenda and therefore, we hope to see the verbal support from our Arab brotherly and friendly countries translated into tangible realities,” an official said.
A Jordanian economic team visited Saudi Arabia in late February and discussed means of reactivating institutional funds, expanding bilateral trade and encouraging Saudi investments in Jordan.
Last month news reports said Saudi Arabia planned to write off $160 million of Jordanian debts. But these reports have neither been confirmed nor denied by officials to date.
Earlier, a local economist said the Kingdom owed the Saudi government $45 million. Jordan also owes the Saudi Development Bank, the government's lending arm, $125 million.
The debt amounts exclude interest which has accumulated over nearly a decade.
It is also not clear how much Jordan owes Saudi Arabia for its share of maintenance costs for the Saudi oil pipeline, Tapline. Amman had paid $1 million per month when the pipeline was operational.
Saudi Arabia, which used to allocate about $200 million in annual economic aid to Jordan, suspended both aid and oil supplies to the Kingdom following the 1990-91 Gulf crisis.
Since then, Jordan has relied entirely on Iraqi oil imports of some 90,000 barrels per day under a United Nations agreement.
But officials are hopeful that Riyadh will soon open its markets to Jordanian manpower and products, in addition to the Kingdom's concern that the Saudi Development Fund will again extend loans to the Kingdom, especially for much-needed programmes related to the social productivity package, which targets lower income groups.
Although the Gulf States themselves are facing economic problems stemming from the continued drop in crude oil prices, some officials are optimistic that assistance is forthcoming.
“It is unlikely that the Gulf States will not offer help to support Jordan's economy, the most pressing task for King Abdullah,” said one local economist.
Last month, banking sources said the United Arab Emirates made a $150 million long-term deposit in the Central Bank of Jordan to bolster the Kingdom's foreign currency reserves.
The Arab Monetary Fund also made a similar deposit of $100 million. Saudi Arabia has a major say in the fund's investment decisions.
King Abdullah will be accompanied by several members of the Royal family and senior Jordanian officials