Ashraf AboArafe
Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and Serbian Prime Minister Joro Matsuts co-chaired wide-ranging bilateral talks in Cairo, focusing on deepening cooperation in agriculture, trade, energy, labor, tourism, and culture.
Key highlights:
- Agreement to increase agricultural trade, especially Egyptian imports of Serbian wheat, corn, and sunflower oil.
- Plans to resume direct flights between Cairo and Belgrade, and potentially Alexandria.
- Progress on a bilateral labor agreement, making Egypt the first country with such a deal with Serbia, to facilitate the deployment of trained Egyptian workers.
- Support for Egyptian companies to participate in Serbian infrastructure projects, and interest from Serbian firms to work in Egypt.
- Commitment to energy cooperation, especially in renewables and natural gas, leveraging Egypt’s LNG export capacity.
- Ongoing cultural exchange and collaboration on tourism promotion, including Serbian participation in EXPO 2027 and possible Egyptian antiquities exhibitions.
- Mutual support on international issues, including Serbia’s backing of Palestine’s UN membership bid and Egypt’s call for de-escalation in the Iran-Israel conflict.
The talks reflected a strong political will from both sides to elevate their historic relationship into a modern strategic partnership.
