Saudi crown prince visits Brazil today

Saudi crown prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz today ( Monday) starts an official visit to Brazil which will last for several days during which he will meet with the President of Brazil.

In a statement to the press, an official at the Saudi embassy in Brazilia said it is expected that the two sides will sign several cooperation agreements between the two countries, noting that there is a " trade agreement aiming at helping Saudi Arabia joining the World Trade Organization which Brazil had joined."

The Saudi source noted a sport agreement between the two countries. In 1985 Saudi Arabia signed a sport agreement with Brazil.

The Saudi official said that the Saudi crown prince Abdullah will meet during his visit to Brazil with heads of provinces and of the Islamic societies besides members of the Arab- Brazilian chambers of commerce with whom he will discuss mechanism for developing trade relations between the Arab states and Brazil.

On September 2nd, the Saudi crown prince started a tour which covered Switzerland and the US where he chaired over the Saudi delegation to the Millennium summit acting on behalf of the Saudi King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz.

The Saudi crown prince will continue his tour he had already started today in Brazil to also cover " Argentine and Venezuela to take part in the meetings of OPEC member states due to be held in Caracas by the end of the current month.

On Saturday, the Saudi crown prince met in new York with the US secretary of state Madeleine Albright and the UN secretary general Kofi Annan, in two separate meetings.

The Saudi crown prince is accompanied by a high ranking delegation including Prince Nawaf Bin Abdul Aziz, the foreign minister Prince Saud al-Faisal; the deputy chairman of the military department at the Saudi national guards Mutib Bin Abdullah, the minister of commerce Osama al-Faqeh, the oil minister Ali al-Nueimi and several high ranking Saudi officials and princes.