Belgian PM lauds Egypt’s efforts to consolidate freedom of belief, empower women

CAIRO – 17 February 2022: Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo lauded Egypt’s efforts to counter extremism thought and consolidate the principles of freedom of belief, tolerance, and acceptance of others.

In a meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Brussels on Thursday, De Croo also hailed Egypt’s launch of the national strategy for human rights, a statement by Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi said.

De Croo praised Egypt’s achievements in the field of development and huge national projects, which contributed to encouraging Belgian companies to operate in Egypt and benefit from the promising investment opportunities in the country.

Sisi expressed keenness to enhance the Egypt-Belgium bilateral relations given the historic ties between the two countries and to participate in the European Union – African Union summit, which aims to enhance development and achieve the aspirations of African people in stability and prosperity.

The president expressed hopes that the summit, set to start on Thursday, develop the partnership relations between Europe and Africa as an extension of the historic Egyptian role in laying the foundations of this partnership through Cairo’s hosting of the first EU-AU summit in 2000.

The meeting reviewed a number of issues of bilateral relations between Egypt and Belgium in all fields, especially the development and management of ports, logistics, clean and renewable energy, and the green transformation.

This comes amid the great development that Egypt is witnessing in the increasingly important sector of green transformation at the international level, as well as Egypt's hosting of the UN Climate Summit (COP27) by the end of this year, the spokesman said.

The president affirmed that Egypt has a developed and complete infrastructure built during the past seven years at the highest level that allows effective cooperation and partnership in the field of energy, including energy production, linkage and distribution to regional neighbors, including Europe.

For his part, the Belgian Prime Minister affirmed his keenness to enhance cooperation and partnership between Egypt and Belgium, encourage Belgian companies to increase their work in Egypt, and continue to develop distinguished and close relations between the two countries.

The the talks also touched on a number of regional files of common interest, as De Croo was keen to be briefed about Sisi’s vision towards political issues in the eastern Mediterranean, the African continent and the Middle East, the spokesman added.