King Salman of Saudi Arabia has said that an agreement has been reached with Egypt to build a bridge over the Red Sea connecting the two countries. The monarch made the announcement in televised comments on Friday – the second day of his visit to Cairo – after meeting Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and before representatives of the two countries began signing investment deals.
“I agreed with my brother, his Excellency President Abdel Fattah el-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.”
It was not mentioned where the bridge would be built, but at the closest point – Nabq, just north of Sharm el-Sheikh, in Egypt, and Ras Alsheikh Hamid, in Saudi Arabia – the two countries are 16km apart. The plan to build a joint bridge over the Red Sea at the entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba has been in the pipeline for several years.
Earlier proposals suggested the causeway would feature a railway line in parallel with the road lanes, integrating both country’s proposed high-speed railway systems. In that plan, the causeway would pass through Saudi’s Tiran Island, which would serve as a connection between the two countries. Sisi, who minutes before the announcement had presented the king with the ceremonial Nile Collar, suggested the name “King Salman bin Abdel Aziz Bridge”.
