New Chapter: Egypt and Turkey Strengthening Bilateral Relations

2024-02-14 15:32:04

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a press conference on Wednesday during the latter’s visit to Cairo after nearly 12 years of estrangement between the two countries.

President Sisi’s speech during the conference:

I welcome President Erdogan on his first visit to Egypt in a while. Together, let us open a new page between our two countries in a way that strengthens our relations and puts them on the right track.
I affirm our pride and appreciation for our historical relations with Türkiye and the common civilizational and cultural heritage.
I am interested in highlighting popular communication over the past years, as trade relations witnessed increasing growth during that period.
Egypt is currently Turkey’s first trading partner in Africa, and Turkey is one of the most important destinations for Egyptian exports.
Together, we will seek to raise trade exchange to $15 billion in the coming years.
I would like to point out our interest in strengthening joint coordination and benefiting from the two countries’ position as centers of gravity in the region, which contributes to achieving peace, establishing stability, and providing an environment conducive to achieving prosperity.
The two countries face many common challenges, such as the threat of terrorism and the economic and social challenges posed by the unstable reality in the region.
In this context, we are proud of the level of cooperation with Turkey for the rapid access of the greatest possible amount of aid to the people of Gaza.
The pace of introducing aid is slow and does not match the needs of the Gaza Strip population.
During the talks, we agreed on the necessity of a ceasefire and achieving calm in the West Bank so that the peace process can be resumed as soon as possible, leading to the declaration of the State of Palestine on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
We stressed the need to strengthen consultation on the Libyan file in a way that helps hold elections and unify the military establishment, and we appreciate that our success in achieving stability in Libya will be a model to be emulated.
We are also interested in welcoming the current calm in the Eastern Mediterranean region, and we look forward to building on it to resolve the existing differences between the countries of the region, so that we can cooperate to benefit from the available natural resources.
We are interested in cooperation in Africa and working to support its development and prosperity endeavors.
I look forward to answering President Erdogan’s invitation to visit Turkey next April to continue working to strengthen relations in various fields.

Ankara and Cairo are moving to strengthen their mutual relationship

President Erdogan’s speech during the conference:

I am happy to be here in Cairo again after a long time, and I extend my sincere thanks to President Sisi and all the Egyptian brothers for hosting.
We share a common history with Egypt that extends back more than 1,000 years, and we want to advance relations to the appropriate path.
The same will exists on the Egyptian side, and we have raised our level of cooperation to the level of the high-level Strategic Cooperation Council.
I await His Excellency the President in his visit to Ankara in order to hold the first meeting of that council, and I believe that this meeting will represent a new stage in our bilateral relations.
Today, in our consultations, we spoke and set a goal to reach the volume of trade exchange to 15 billion dollars as soon as possible.
We are determined to increase the volume of our investments in Egypt, which currently amounts to about $3 billion.
We exchanged views on the possibility of taking additional measures to increase trade and economic cooperation.
We can strengthen our ties in all areas and we will do our best to achieve this.
The tragedy that is happening in Gaza has topped our agenda today. Through the Israeli attacks, more than 28,000 Palestinians have been martyred, nearly 70,000 innocent Palestinians have been injured, and mosques, churches, schools, and hospitals have been targeted.
The Netanyahu administration continued its policy of occupation, killing, and massacres despite global reactions.
Delivering aid to Gaza is one of our priorities.
There is no doubt that we appreciate the support of Egyptian parties in this context, and I also thank the Egyptian Red Crescent, the Egyptian Ministry of Health, and all Egyptian parties contributing to this matter.
We were able to transport more than 700 injured Palestinians and their escorts to Turkey, and the experts are also discussing among themselves to build a field hospital in Gaza. We look forward to supporting our Egyptian brothers to build this hospital soon.
We cannot accept the displacement of the population of Gaza and the complete cleansing of the Strip from its population, and we appreciate Egypt’s position in this context.
The Netanyahu administration continues its massacres and must stop transferring those massacres to Rafah as well.
The international community also must not allow this crazy behavior.
In order to stop the bloodshed in Gaza, we will continue to cooperate with Egypt, and in the medium term, rebuilding Gaza and healing the wounds requires joint action, and we are ready for that.