RIYADH // Saudi Arabia’s King Salman arrived in Malaysia on Sunday to kick off a multi-nation tour aimed at boosting economic ties with Asia.
The official Saudi Press Agency said the king’s month-long tour will also take in Indonesia, Brunei, Japan, China and the Maldives “to meet with the leaders of those countries to discuss bilateral relations and regional and international issues of common concern”.
King Salman will also visit Jordan before returning home.
The Saudi monarch was received by Malaysian prime minister, Najib Razak, and greeted at parliament with a 21-gun salute.
The visit to Malaysia is the first by a Saudi king in more than a decade, as Riyadh courts Asian investors for the sale of a 5 per cent stake in Saudi Aramco in 2018, expected to be the world’s biggest IPO.
* Reuters and Associated Press
