Saudi Arabia, US sign agreements worth $280 bln

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and US President Donald Trump have signed a series of agreements worth $280 billion, during the latter's visit to the Kingdom on Saturday, state-owned news agency, SPA, has reported.

The agreements cover military, commercial, energy and petrochemical sectors and are expected to contribute to the transfer of knowledge and technology and boost the Kingdom’s domestic industry while providing thousands job opportunities in both countries.

President Trump praised the cooperation between the Kingdom and the United States in all fields, describing his meeting with King Salman as well as bilateral agreements between both countries as “great”, an SPA report added.

The two countries also agreed on a Joint Strategic Vision Declaration covering aspects like diplomacy, trade, security and the fight against terror.

The two sides inked two memorandums of understanding (MoU) to upgrade the Saudi defense capabilities. A partnership agreement to assemble 150 Lockheed Martin Black Hawk helicopters in the Kingdom was also signed. Another four agreements relating to the military industrial sector were also signed.

The two sides also signed an MoU in the field of technology, an agreement in the field of power generation, two agreements in the field of manufacturing, two agreements in the fields of technology and infrastructure, in addition to an agreement to establish an ethylene plant in the US.

In addition, a number of agreements with Saudi Aramco in the fields of oil and gas services were inked.

The two sides also agreements relating to mining and developing human resources, investments in the health sector to build and operate hospitals, aircraft purchase, digitalization, information storage and real estate investment.