2024-02-14 22:01:00
CAIRO, Feb. 14 (Xinhua) — Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday called for efforts to “together open a new chapter” in the country’s relations with Turkey, as he hosted the first visit of his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Cairo for more than 10 years.
In a speech delivered at a joint press conference with the Turkish president, Mr. Al-Sisi said he hoped that the two countries “will enrich bilateral relations and put them back on the right trajectory” following Mr. .Erdogan, which took place against a backdrop of regional tensions aggravated by the ongoing Israeli war against the Gaza Strip.
“Currently, Egypt is Turkey’s largest trading partner in Africa, while Turkey is one of the main destinations for Egyptian exports,” Al-Sisi said at the press conference.
Regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Egyptian president said he agreed with his Turkish counterpart “on the imperative need to urgently achieve a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and restore calm in the West Bank, in order to pave the way for the resumption of the peace process at the earliest opportunity, leading to the declaration of a sovereign Palestinian state.”
Mr. Al-Sisi welcomes the current level of cooperation between Egypt and Turkey in the rapid delivery of humanitarian aid to the population of Gaza, noting that Israel’s “rigorous restrictions” are slowing down the entry of trucks help.
For his part, Erdogan said Turkey was willing to improve ties with Egypt.
He also invited Mr. Al-Sisi to travel to Ankara in April for the first meeting of the new strategic cooperation council between the two countries, which the Egyptian leader accepted.
“I think this meeting will mark a new stage for our bilateral relations,” Mr. Erdogan said during the joint press conference, specifying that he had discussed with Mr. Al-Sisi the doubling of the annual volume of trade between the two countries to reach 15 billion US dollars over the next few years and increasing Turkish investments in Egypt.
Mr. Erdogan said that “the humanitarian tragedy in Gaza” had been at the center of his talks with his Egyptian counterpart, regretting that Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7, 2023 have killed more than 28,000 Palestinians and injured more than 68,000. others.
“Delivering aid to Gaza is one of our priorities,” he said, noting that Turkey has so far sent more than 31,000 tons of emergency relief to the besieged enclave. . END
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