Egypt FM hails close ties with Sudan

CAIRO - 3 August 2017: Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry led Thursday a delegation to the political consultations committee with the Sudanese side under the chairmanship of his Sudanese counterpart Ibrahim Ghandour.

This is the third round of political consultations between Egypt and Sudan as part of an agreement to periodically hold the consultations committee which is emanated from the joint higher committee at the presidential level.

The meeting took up ways of boosting bilateral ties along with discussing a host of regional issues of mutual interest.

During the meeting, Shoukry underlined the importance of holding the political consultations committee meetings regularly, said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid.

Shoukry, meanwhile, hailed the depth of ties binding Egypt and Sudan, adding that Egypt is keen on promoting ties with Sudan in the various spheres.

The two ministers also discussed the economic and trade ties between the two countries along with the outcome of the specialized committee between the two countries, said the spokesman.

The meeting tackled bilateral cooperation in the security sphere and the importance of containing mounting media campaign and activating the signing of media charter of honor between the two countries.

They also tackled cooperation between the two countries and building cadres through training a group of Sudanese diplomats in the Institute of Diplomatic Studies, which is affiliated to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.

Talking about the Nile file and the Renaissance Dam, the spokesman said that Shoukry stressed the importance of resuming the three-way technical meetings as soon as possible in order to ensure finalizing the studies which are held by the advisory offices soon.

Egypt will work on organizing the Nile Basin summit next year, Shoukry said during the meeting.

The two ministers also discussed a host of regional issues of mutual interest, including the situation in Libya, Syria and Yemen, added the spokesman.