Egypt’s FM meets with British, Russian, Irish, Serbian counterparts in New York

CAIRO – 22 September 2022: In continuation of his meetings on the sidelines of the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry met on Wednesday with his counterparts from the UK, Russia, Ireland, and Serbia, said Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid.

Shoukry also met with the United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly.

Minister Shoukry began the meeting by extending condolences on the death of Queen Elizabeth II, expressing sincere wishes of success to the United Kingdom’s government and people during the reign of King Charles III. The foreign minister also congratulated his British counterpart on assuming the duties of his post, looking forward to the continuation of cooperation and the advancement of bilateral relations with the new government.

Both ministers welcomed the intensification of consultation mechanisms the recent period has witnessed between Egypt and Britain, as the first round of the Egyptian-British Association Council was held in July 2022, and the Trade and Investment Subcommittee has been launched to enhance economic and trade cooperation between the two countries.

The spokesperson revealed that the foreign minister was keen on emphasizing the Egyptian government's interest in increasing British investments in the Egyptian market, especially in the fields of energy and agriculture, encouraging the British's government financing institutions, most notably the British International Investment (BII), to increase their investments in Egypt.

The British minister hailed the boom the Egyptian infrastructure and roads sector has recently witnessed as an important element of attracting foreign investments to Egypt. In this context, Minister Shoukry welcomed the positive steps the British government has taken to encourage the flow of tourists from Britain to Egypt, expressing aspiration for enhancing cooperation in the field of tourism, while appreciating the positive role played by Minister Cleverly in this regard during his tenure as minister of state for the Middle East until April 2022.

The Foreign Ministry spokesperson concluded his statements by noting that the meeting Witnessed exchanging visions on a number of regional and international files, foremost of which is the Ukrainian crisis and its repercussions on the global economy.

Shoukry stressed the importance of providing support to developing countries to contain the negative repercussions of this crisis on food and energy supply chains. He also briefed his British counterpart on the organizational and substantive developments of Egypt's hosting and presidency of the 27th UN Climate Conference of Parties (COP27), expressing aspiration for the British prime minister's participation in the conference to hand over the presidency to Egypt.

Egypt calls for diplomatic solution to Russian-Ukrainian crisis

Shoukry met with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, on the sidelines of the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, to discuss the developments of the Ukrainian crisis.

Shoukry affirmed Egypt's position that calls for resolving the crisis through dialogue and diplomatic means, in light of the negative repercussions of that crisis on the global economy, as well as on the energy and food sectors, said Abu Zeid.

The spokesperson added that the  ministers discussed the overall files of bilateral relations between Egypt and Russia to achieve the common interest of the two countries. This is in addition to tackling a number of regional files such as the Libyan crisis, the developments of the Palestinian cause, the situation in Syria and Iraq, and the importance of working to achieve stability in the Middle East.

Enhancing bilateral Egyptian-Serbian ties

Sameh Shoukry met with Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Silakovic. The two ministers discussed ways to strengthen the bilateral relations between the two countries, and build on President Sisi’s visit to Serbia in July 2022.

The ministers touched on various files of joint cooperation, especially the development of economic relations between the two countries, in light of the promotion of the joint economic committee at the level of foreign ministers and the aspiration to hold the meeting of the 19th session of the committee in Cairo, said Ahmed Abu Zeid in a statement.

This comes in light of the first meeting of the Joint Business Council and the Egyptian-Serbian Business Forum that was held on the sidelines of Sisi’s visit to Serbia.

The spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that the meeting also witnessed a discussion about the Ukrainian crisis and its great repercussions on the international economy.

FM discusses bilateral cooperation with Irish counterpart

Shoukry discussed with Irish Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense Simon Coveney ways to develop the bilateral relations, and build on the momentous relations between Egypt and the European Union.

In June 2022, both sides signed an agreement on participation priorities, and on holding the Council of Partnership, Abu Zeid said.

The ministers also tackled the promising opportunities of cooperation between the two countries in a number of sectors, most notably in renewable energy, communications, information and digitization technologies, medical and pharmaceutical industries, and food industries.

Abu Zeid added that the Irish minister was keen to get acquainted with the organizational and substantive developments of Egypt's hosting of the COP 27 conference, and expressed his country's readiness to cooperate with Egypt during its presidency of the conference to advance the international climate action agenda.

The two ministers' talks touched on a number of regional issues, including the Egyptian position regarding the Renaissance Dam, and developments of the Palestinian cause and ways to revive the peace process.