By State House Media and Communications Unit
President Dr Julius Maada Bio has engaged Sultan Abdulrahman Al-Marshad, Chief Executive Officer of Saudi Fund for Development, a Saudi Arabian government agency that provides development assistance to developing countries by financing social and infrastructure projects.
The President started off by expressing deep gratitude to the Saudi King, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, and the people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the excellent bilateral relations between the two countries as well as for the development assistance rendered to Sierra Leone.
His Excellency then spoke about his government’s key priorities with the Fund, which also seeks to support the economies of recipient countries by enhancing economic growth and promoting job opportunities, and expressed his country’s desire to deepen cooperation with the Kingdom.
CEO of the Fund, Sultan Al-Marshad, welcomed President Bio and outlined the range of development programmes that existed during the over forty years of bilateral ties between the Kingdom and Sierra Leone.
He also mentioned several recent infrastructural projects, including the Kenema-Pendembu Highway and the Fourah Bay College rehabilitation-BADEA project. He noted the $50 million soft loan that the Kingdom had signed with Sierra Leone for the construction of an ultra-modern hospital in the northwest of the country.
Sultan Al-Marshad also reiterated that the $5 billion fund for Africa that was launched the previous day by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud at the Saudi-Africa Summit would benefit Sierra Leone.
Both sides expressed delight in meeting and agreed on developing a cooperation framework that would usher in an expansion of the ties between the two countries.
