Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will visit Greece on July 26 to meet Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Greece’s foreign ministry said on Friday, in his first visit to an EU country since the 2018 killing of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The ministry said the pair were to sign bilateral agreements, without giving details. A Greek diplomatic source said the agreements were in the fields of energy, military cooperation and an undersea data cable, among others.
Greece and Saudi Arabia agreed in May on the main terms of a joint venture to lay a data cable that will connect Europe to Asia. The “East-to-Mediterranean Data Corridor” will be developed by MENA HUB, owned by Saudi Arabia’s STC and Greece’s telecommunications and satellite applications company TTSA.The visit will be closely watched after the killing of Khashoggi at the kingdom’s consulate in Istanbul sparked an uproar in the West.
US intelligence services have concluded that the crown prince directly approved the murder of the Washington Post columnist. The prince denies any involvement in the murder. Some Western leaders have since visited Riyadh, including US President Joe Biden last week, who said he had confronted Prince Mohammed over the murder. Biden said the crown prince said he held those responsible accountable.
