Agencies

King Abdullah, currently on a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia, toured the naval base's command and control unit and boarded a Saudi vessel, where he was briefed by its commander about its duties.

King Abdullah visited a hangar for naval base air force planes and was briefed on the planes' duty in support of the naval units.

The naval commander presented the King with the fleet's shield and hosted a lunch in honour of the King and the Jordanian delegation.

Later, King Abdullah visited Jeddah's “Islamic port,” considered the largest in the region. He was met by Prince Abdul Aziz Al Mane', president of the port corporation, who accompanied him on a tour of the port and briefed him on its recent development.

The port handles 18 million tonnes of goods per year.

King Abdullah and the Jordanian delegation also toured a sugar processing plant with an annual output of 500,000 tonnes and was briefed on its development.

The King's tour followed his meeting Sunday night with Saudi King Fahd Ben Abdul Aziz, with whom he reviewed Jordanian-Saudi relations and the peace process.

The two leaders stressed the need to give momentum to efforts aimed at achieving comprehensive peace and voiced their countries' absolute support for the Palestinian people and their struggle to establish an independent state on their national soil.

Meanwhile, King Abdullah said on Monday that Jordan's ties with neighbouring Syria are improving.

“Relations with our brothers in Syria and Kuwait are good and are developing for the better,” the King told Saudi Arabia's Okaz daily on the second day of a three-day visit to the kingdom.

“We are in permanent contact with them to exchange points of view and we focus on questions of common interest,” King Abdullah said.

Also on Monday, Prime Minister Abdur-Ra'uf S. Rawabdeh, Royal Court Chief Abdul Karim Kabariti and Foreign Minister Abdul Ilah Khatib met with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al Faisal for talks on further consolidating cooperation among the private and public sectors of the two countries, particularly in trade and economic fields.

Rawabdeh expressed Jordan's appreciation of Saudi Arabia's supportive stand for the Kingdom, while Prince Saud stressed his country's determination to back Jordan's development efforts.

The two sides also discussed a number of issues of concern to both countries

Rawabdeh also met Monday with Saudi Interior Minister Nayef Ben Abdul Aziz to discuss the issue of employment of Jordanian workers in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi minister said his country welcomes Jordanian workers and noted that there has been a sharp increase in the number of Jordanian workers employed in Saudi Arabia over the past few years.

The two sides discussed economic relations and Jordan's exports of agricultural products to Saudi Arabia.