Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with Jordan's King Abdullah on Tuesday amid a thaw in relations after years of tension due to divergent views on regional conflicts and unfulfilled pledges of aid, APA reports citing Reuters.
The first visit to Jordan in years by the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia comes at a time, officials say, when Jordan's economy is struggling with the economic knock-on effects of the Ukraine war.
Business leaders and officials hope it will unblock at least $3 billion of investment projects that Saudi Arabia committed to in recent years but which never materialized.
Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), is looking into investing billions of dollars in mega-infrastructure projects in Jordan, including an estimated $2.5 billion railway project, a senior Jordanian official said.
Saudi Arabia has over $12 billion worth of investments in Jordan and once rescued the country with cash injections, but has held off direct budget support.
Officials before the talks said discussions would look at more ways to help Jordan's economy, which has been hammered by rising fuel prices and higher food imports. Jordan imports most of its energy needs.
Prince Mohammed was quoted as saying in a statement after the talks he was keen "to push relations to a new phase."
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