Egyptian analysts comment on Shukri’s meeting with his Turkish counterpart and Sisi’s upcoming visit to Turkey

Egypt – Two Egyptian political analysts commented on the meeting of the Egyptian Foreign Minister with his Turkish counterpart yesterday, Saturday, and on the upcoming visit of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to Turkey, to meet his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Hani El-Gamal, an Egyptian political analyst specializing in Turkish affairs, stressed “the importance of the meeting between Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, which took place yesterday, Saturday, in Istanbul.” He said that it was “important, sensitive, and carries within it the weight of the two regional countries at a delicate time that the Middle East region is going through in particular.” In light of the hot conditions in Palestine and the Horn of Africa.”

He added, “This meeting came as part of a number of regional developments, the most important of which was the development of Egyptian-Turkish relations, especially following the historic visit made by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to Cairo following bilateral relations between the two countries dried up for more than ten years, due to Erdogan’s reception of the Muslim Brotherhood.” “After the June 30 demonstrations and the removal of the Brotherhood from power in Egypt.”

He continued: “But following the intimate meeting between President Sisi and President Erdogan on the sidelines of the World Cup in Qatar, the pace of rapprochement between the two leaders accelerated through mutual visits at the ministerial level, which contributed to increasing economic cooperation between them to 10 billion dollars. This meeting also establishes work on preparing… For the meeting of the Strategic Cooperation Council at the level of the two leaderships.”

The expert continued: “This is an important milestone in joint work and achieving the common will to improve relations and the size of the two countries, as well as arranging for President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s visit to Turkey in the near future, which is one of the distinguished evidences of the return of bilateral relations, especially trade and economics, one of the strongest forms of cooperation and investments in Egypt.” The trade volume between us amounts to $8 billion.”

He added: “There is a goal, during the President’s visit to Turkey, to increase the trade volume to $15 billion by expanding the scope of the free trade agreement, restarting maritime shipping, and strengthening relations in the field of defense industries. There is an opportunity to enhance cooperation in the field of energy, liquefied natural gas, and nuclear energy, as well as Seeking to demarcate the maritime borders in order to extract gas, creating the atmosphere for Turkey to join the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Organization, and a convergence of views between Turkey, Greece and Cyprus through Egyptian efforts, in addition to coordination with Turkey in playing a role in calming the situation in the Horn of Africa region, following Ethiopia’s desire to buy a port. Berbera in (Somali Land), which may preoccupy matters in this region following the militarization of the Red Sea due to the Houthi attacks on American ships and the impact of this on the movement of trade coming to the Suez Canal by 40%.”

Al-Jamal said: “This meeting also lays the foundations for dealing with Israeli desires to displace the Palestinians and moving forward with Turkey being a mediator alongside Egypt and an alternative to Qatar in the humanitarian truce negotiations between Israel and the faction movement, due to its strong relations with the leaders of the faction movement, who have a distinguished presence.” In Turkey, whether politically or economically.”

The two sides warned that the war in the Gaza Strip would lead to an expansion of the conflict in the region and called on the international community to pressure the opening of the six Israeli crossings to bring humanitarian aid to the people of the Gaza Strip and to confirm the two-state solution formula.

For his part, the Egyptian political analyst specializing in Turkish affairs, Mohamed Rabie Al-Daihi, said: “There is no doubt that Sisi’s visit to Turkey, which is the first of its kind since he came to power in 2015, will inaugurate a new path and pattern of more cooperation and expansion in relations between the two countries, especially on the At the level of strategic partnership, and enhancing cooperation and economic interconnection.”

He added: “Especially since Sisi’s visit to Turkey will open new areas of cooperation between the two countries, as well as strengthening cooperation in existing areas, most notably economic, security and military cooperation, in light of the security and political turmoil the Middle East is witnessing that may put the region in the face of a comprehensive regional war.”

In a related context, the political analyst expects that “the visit will carry with it Egyptian-Turkish coordination on some regional files and issues, most notably the Palestinian issue, the Libyan crisis, and developments in the scene in Syria.”

Source: RT