Headed by Ambassador Dr. Bader Abdel Ati, a round of political consultations between Egypt and Belgium on bilateral relations and regional issues
Ashraf AboArafe
Yesterday June 4, a round of political consultations was held through the “video conference” feature between Egypt and Belgium, headed by Ambassador Dr. Bader Abdel Ati, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for European Affairs, Ambassador Anick Van Calster, Director General of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in the presence of the Ambassador, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Department, Peter Huyghebaert, and Sibille de Cartier, Belgium’s Ambassador in Cairo. On the Egyptian side, the assistant foreign minister for Libyan affairs, the deputy assistant foreign minister for Western European affairs, the deputy assistant foreign minister for Nile water affairs, and the director of western European affairs also participated in the session.
- The two sides reviewed the efforts made to combat the spread of the emerging corona virus and measures to coexist with it and contain it and deal with its health and economic repercussions, as it was agreed on the importance of concerted international efforts and coordination to exchange experiences in order to limit the spread of the virus and face its various implications, especially economic.
The talks also dealt with ways to enhance bilateral relations between Egypt and Belgium at the political and economic levels, especially in the fields of trade, investment, agriculture, maritime transport and freight, and the role of Belgian companies operating in Egypt in supporting the economy and benefiting from investment opportunities in the economic zone of the Suez Canal, on the cultural level and in The field of recovering smuggled Egyptian antiquities.
The Assistant Minister for European Affairs stressed Egypt’s aspiration to increase the pace of cooperation with the Belgian side and benefit from the Belgian experience in the fields of seaport management, lake development, information technology, artificial intelligence and tourism, after the end of the Corona pandemic.
For her part, the Belgian official affirmed her country’s keenness to develop and deepen bilateral cooperation with Egypt at all different bilateral levels, and exchange views on international and regional issues.
The consultations also dealt with exchanging views on a number of regional issues of common concern, as the Belgian side was keen to know the Egyptian vision of the overall situation in many of the region’s files, developments in the Palestinian issue, the issue of combating terrorism and illegal immigration and the role of the two countries in this regard.
In this context, the two sides stressed the importance of continuing to develop relations between Egypt and Belgium to serve their interests, and the two sides also agreed on the importance of continuing to consult and coordinate on issues of common concern in order to reach a political settlement of these crises at the earliest time in order to achieve stability and development in the region.
