Saudi Arabia, Egypt agree to build Red Sea bridge

Saudi Arabia’s king Salman has announced that a bridge will be built over the Red Sea that will link his country to Egypt.

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.

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

Sisi said that the bridge – which would be named after the Saudi king - marked "a new chapter on the road of Arab joint action.

A Red Sea bridge linking Saudi Arabia and Egypt has been proposed several times before but has failed to become a reality.

Previous estimates for the bridge project suggested a cost of around $3-4 billion but no further information has yet been released for the latest plan.

Saudi Arabia considers Egypt a crucial partner in its efforts to build a bloc of friendly Sunni Muslim states as a bulwark against the growing regional influence of Shia-led Iran.

The king’s visit comes amid recent strains in the relationship, with Sisi taking a less hardline stance against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Riyadh seeking more support from Cairo for its war against rebels in Yemen.