British Prime Minister Tony Blair met Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Abdullah on Saturday to promote trade ties and raise the case of two British nurses in jail on murder charges.
The two men were dining together before holding formal talks on the second day of a Middle East trip by Blair.Before their meeting, Blair tried to dampen speculation that his intervention would prompt the early release of nurses Lucille McLauchlan and Deborah Parry, charged with the murder of a colleague in Saudi Arabia.
"It is better that I don't say anything until after I've had my discussions with the Crown Prince," he told reporters.
Protocol would suggest any progress on the nurses' case would not be announced until after Blair leaves early today. Neither side was expected to comment after the talks.
The nurses have been behind bars for more than a year on charges of murdering an Australian colleague, Yvonne Gilford, at a hospital in the Saudi city of Dhahran where all three worked.
McLauchlan was found guilty of being an accessory to murder and has been sentenced to eight years in jail and 500 lashes. She has appealed.
Parry has yet to be pronounced guilty or innocent. Both women maintain their innocence.
Blair said he hoped Saudi-British business links could be expanded further, and not just in the traditional area of defense, where 30,000 British jobs depend on contracts with the Saudi government.
"I hope very much that we keep up the defense contracts that are already there. But it is important that people see Britain is still really engaged in Saudi Arabia and that Britain has a lot to offer in the newer industries as well as the older ones," he said.
The trip to Jeddah is the second stop on Blair's five-day visit to the Middle East as part of European Union efforts to revive the stalled peace process.
On Friday, Blair got a taste of the pessimism in the Arab world at the lack of progress in the peace process during talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
Mubarak has said he has lost patience with Israel over its failure to fulfil agreements made with the Palestinians to withdraw troops from occupied territories.
The peace talks ground to a halt last year, derailed by continuing Jewish settlements on occupied Arab land, Palestinian suicide bombings and disputes over the promised withdrawal of Israeli troops.
Blair said he would stay optimistic ahead of talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.