Headed by ambassador Abdel-Aty.. MOFA hosts a round of political consultations with Cyprus

Ashraf AboArafe

As part of efforts to enhance Egyptian-Cypriot relations, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted, on December 10, 2019, a round of political consultations between the two countries headed by Ambassador Dr. Badr Abdel-Aty, Assistant Foreign Minister for European Affairs, and Mr. Tasos Tzionis, permanent secretary of the Cyprus Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the participation of a number of assistants and deputy assistants of the Minister of Foreign Affairs for Economic and European Affairs, the Nile and Libyan waters.

 The consultations touched all issues of bilateral cooperation between the two countries and aspects of trilateral cooperation between Egypt, Cyprus and Greece, as well as issues raised on the regional and international arenas. Ambassador Abdel Ati stressed the serious political will of the leaderships of the two countries to further develop relations between the two countries in all fields to serve the interests of the two peoples, especially the topics of investment, trade and tourism.

The cooperation between the two countries in the field of energy and the exploitation of available opportunities was also addressed in light of Egypt’s distinguished role on the global energy map and the efforts made by the country to turn Egypt into a regional energy center in the wake of recent gas discoveries in the eastern Mediterranean, and the signing of an agreement to extend gas pipelines between Cyprus and Egyptian warehouses, In addition to signing the framework agreement for the electrical connection between Egypt and Cyprus in May 2019, and the great importance it represents in the connection between the African and European continents.

The talks also dealt with a number of regional and international issues of concern to the two countries, foremost of which is the Libyan crisis, issues of combating terrorism, illegal immigration and refugees, and intense Egyptian efforts in these areas, which resulted in the dismantling of the terrorist infrastructure, and preventing the exit of any boat carrying illegal immigrants from Egyptian ports since September 2016. During the talks, reaffirmation of Cyprus’ support for Egypt within the European Union institutions, and Egypt’s support for Cyprus efforts to reach a just settlement of the Cyprus issue, was also reaffirmed.