Egypt’s, Turkish FMs stress importance of bilateral relations, talk restoring ties in different fields

CAIRO - 18 March 2023: Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu revealed moves to upgrade diplomatic representation between the two countries, suggesting that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will visit President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi during the coming period, during a joint press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Cairo Saturday. 

“Restoring bilateral relations between both countries after a period of coldness requires a great effort and political will to regain momentum in relations,” Cavusoglu said. 

In his speech, the Turkish minister thanked Egypt for the assistance provided to Turkey after the devastating earthquake disaster that hit the country, and left thousands of deaths. He highlighted that Minister Sameh Shoukry was the first to visit Turkey after earthquake, and that President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi called Turkish President Recep Tayyip to offer condolences.

According to Cavusoglu, there are important steps that will be taken to strengthen relations between both countries during the coming period.

Turkish minister explained the importance of expanding the area of mutual benefit, referring to the meeting of Prime Minister Dr. Mustafa Madbouly with Turkish companies to solve any problems and obstacles facing them, pointing to the existence of communication between officials of the two countries at the economic level while working to explore opportunities for cooperation. 

He further explained that Egypt has incentive measures for investors to attract more Turkish investors during the coming period, in the presence of a common will to strengthen and develop relations between the two countries.

Both leaders held closed meeting, where they tackled regional and international issues of common interest. 

In this aspect, the Turkish Foreign Minister made it clear that Cairo and Ankara seek to avoid tension within the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque during the holy month of Ramadan, explaining the existence of a treaty between the two countries to strengthen efforts to work on that and remove obstacles, and this was discussed during Minister Shoukry's visit to Turkey.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu confirmed that the talks touched on the Ukrainian-Russian crisis and the efforts that both can take to address the crisis, referring to the impact of the war on Egypt and Turkey, and warning of the crisis between the two sides turning into a nuclear crisis. In this regard, Çavuşoğlu called for an agreement between Ukraine and Russia to address the crisis, pointing to the talks touched on the situation in Syria and Iraq and the fight against terrorism in the two countries.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry affirmed the existence of a common desire between Egypt and Turkey to strengthen economic and trade relations between the two countries, explaining that the trade exchange between Cairo and Ankara reached, during a period of time, $9 billion and the volume of Turkish investments estimated at $2.5 billion. 

From his side, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry affirmed the existence of a common desire between Egypt and Turkey to strengthen economic and trade relations between the two countries.

“I welcome dear brother Turkish minister, and we look forward to continuing coordination and opening channels of communication between government agencies in Egypt and Turkey,” Shoukry added. 

In addition, Minister Sameh Shoukry explained that the discussions touched on the Palestinian issue and the situation in Syria, Libya and Iraq, as well as the normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran, in addition to the file of combating terrorism and joint cooperation between the two countries in particular. 

“We look forward to achieving what is in the interest of the peoples of Egypt and Turkey,” Shoukry said.