US defense secretary to visit Saudi Arabia

The Saudi daily al-Watan said on Saturday that the US defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld will by the end of October pay an official visit to Saudi Arabia to discuss means of military co-operation between the two countries.

The paper added that the US secretary will during this visit convey a message to the Saudi King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz and to the crown prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz from the US President George Bush.

The US defense secretary will be also meeting with the second deputy chairman of the Saudi Premier and the minister of defense and aviation prince Sultan Bin Abdul Aziz in order to discuss the situation in the Gulf region and bilateral relations between the two countries at the military level.