He was received by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at King Abdulaziz International Airport, where they held a round of talks ahead of the summit.

The two-day meeting will be attended by leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council, King Abdullah II of Jordan, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi and US President Joe Biden, who is currently on an official visit to Saudi Arabia.

Bahrain’s King Hamad is expected to arrive to attend the GCC Summit on Saturday, the official Bahrain News Agency reported.

Al-Kadhimi, who arrived in Jeddah on Friday, held talks with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman and Iraqi Oil Minister Ihsan Abdul Jabbar signed an electrical Gulf interconnection agreement, in implementation of the memorandum of understanding signed by the two sides at the beginning of the year.

Prince Abdulaziz praised the role of the crown prince in accelerating electrical connection with Iraq, and said he hopes the two countries will consolidate economic relations to ensure speedy implementation of the project.

The agreement comes as part of efforts by Gulf leaders to achieve development in Iraq.

“The MoU and the electrical interconnection project are the result of a comprehensive and detailed study carried out by the joint technical team between the two sides,” the SPA reported.

“The study concluded that the Saudi-Iraqi electrical interconnection project will contribute to supporting the reliability of the electrical networks in the two countries, achieving economic savings, promoting the optimum energy mix for electricity production, supporting the absorption of electrical networks to enter renewable energy, and achieving optimal investments in electricity generation projects.”

The contract includes establishing the Gulf Electricity Interconnection Authority to set up electrical interconnection lines from the authority’s station in Kuwait to Al-Faw station in southern Iraq, to supply the south with about 500 megawatts of energy from GCC countries.

Electrical interconnection between Saudi Arabia and Iraq will constitute a step toward enhancing opportunities to establish a regional market for electricity trade.