Ali Al-Areedh, Tunisia's Prime Minister, lauded the current historical relations between Tunisia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, noting it was based on mutual confidence, transparency and respect. In an interview with the Saudi Press Agency on the eve of his state visit to the Kingdom, Al-Areedh expressed happiness to visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, saying that his visit would tackle the progress of bilateral cooperation between the two countries in all political and economic fields and ways of enhancing them in addition to regional issues of mutual interest. He said the visit comes within consultation and deepening the cooperation relations between the two countries in the political, economic, financial and technical fields and ways of enhancing them, noting that Saudi Arabia is the Arab world's elderly brother. He lauded the support rendered by the Kingdom to Tunisia over the last two years, praising the outcome of the visit of ex-prime minister of Tunisia Hamadi Al-Jebali to the Kingdom in addition to mutual visits between Tunisian and Saudi officials over the last two countries. The Saudi Development Fund has granted Tunisia soft loans and assistance worth $500m to finance a host of giant projects in Tunisia, noting that the assistance has been used appropriately, he said. He expressed hope that cooperation between the two countries would be boosted from its current level to match with the strong ties binding them, expressing his country's plan the get more Saudi investments in Tunisia. Al-Areedh underscored the importance of not confining cooperation between Tunisia and the Kingdom to investment, hoping to improve commercial exchange and expand its scope and noting that Tunisia is now an open country planning to further widen its Arab dimension and that cooperation with its Arab sisterly countries becomes wider. Regarding the facilities his country would like to offer to Saudi investors, Al-Areedh said his government seeks to make situations in Tunisia more secure, stable and politically transparent, confirming that his country would achieve new laws in this regard. --More 20:36 LOCAL TIME 17:36 GMT تغريد
