Riyadh City, Safar 23, 1434, Jan 5, 2013, SPA -- Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister, stressed today the depth of relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which are reflective of strong ties, mutual respect and close ties at all levels and in all spheres of cooperation in the service of the common interests of the two countries as well as in the service of Arab and Islamic issues and international peace and security. Prince Saud Al-Faisal made these remarks this morning in a statement during a press conference along with the Foreign Minister of the Arab Republic of Egypt Mohamed Kamel Amr at the Foreign Ministry in Riyadh. He welcomed the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Egypt and his accompanying delegation in the Kingdom and said, "The talk about Saudi-Egyptian relationships is a talk about a long history and tradition between the two sisterly countries which is bound by strong links, mutual respect and close relations at all levels and in all areas of cooperation in the service of common interests of the two countries, and in the service of Arab and Islamic issues, and international peace and security". "With this spirit, we held today the first ministerial meeting of the political follow-up and consultation committee between the two countries. During its deliberations, we discussed numerous topics of mutual cooperation, including the work of the Saudi-Egyptian Joint Committee headed by Ministers of Commerce of the two countries. We also reviewed ways to facilitate investments, the economic support program for sister Egypt and many other issues that serve the interests of the peoples of the two countries and live up to the aspirations of our two leaderships," Prince Saud Al-Faisal said. "Moreover, within the framework of political issues, we discussed together a broad range of topics topped surely by the tragedy of Syria, which has been exacerbating. This is shown by the recent United Nations declaration that the death toll reached 60,000 people in addition to millions of refugees and the displaced persons. We also discussed in this framework the results of the on-going efforts and international communications and the need to push them to achieve the aspirations of the Syrian people towards ending bloodshed and maintaining the security and stability and the unity, sovereignty and independence of the Syrian territory, with emphasis on the importance of peaceful transition of power after the Syrian regime lost its legitimacy internally and globally," he added. --More 15:51 LOCAL TIME 12:51 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/1065696