Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan
ISTANBUL - Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday started a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia on the invitation of King Salman bin Abd al Aziz al Saud.
A statement by the Presidential Communications Directorate made the announcement, noting that talks on bilateral relations were on the agenda as well as the "possibility of developing cooperation" between Turkey and Saudi Arabia and a look at recent events at the regional and international levels.
On the eve of Erdogan's official visit to Riyadh, Turkey's Treasury and Economy Minister Nureddin Nebati discussed trade cooperation with his Saudi counterpart Mohammed Al-Jadaan.
"We exchanged views on how to improve economic cooperation between our two countries on investment and trade," Nebati wrote on Twitter.
The visit is part of a process started last year for the normalisation of relations between Turkey and Saudi Arabia that had been almost entirely severed since 2018 after the killing in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul of Saudi journalist and critic of the kingdom Jamal Khashoggi.
The problems between the two countries led Saudi businessmen to impose a sort of unofficial embargo on exports from Turkey that last year dropped to their lowest level ever.
According to Saudi sources cited by the Anadolu news agency, Turkish exports to Saudi Arabia will go back to normal when relations are re-established.
