President concludes visit to Egypt with Arab League SG meeting

President Nikos Christodoulides concludes his official visit to Egypt on Thursday with a meeting with the Arab League Secretary General, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, at the League's seat. After the meeting Christodoulides will depart for Cyprus.

On Wednesday, Christodoulides met in Cairo with the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and expressed his will to boost cooperation between Cyprus and Egypt. The two Presidents also attended talks between the two countries' delegations.

President Christodoulides later described the establishment of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum as a milestone, saying Cyprus will continue to work on upgrading cooperation within the forum.

He said he and Sisi agreed to have the next Cyprus - Egypt intergovernmental conference in September in Cyprus. “We also look forward to our next common meeting with Greece, while we also exchanged views for the further expansion of these schemes, always on an ad hoc basis with other countries of the region,” he added.

Christodoulides also briefed Sisi on developments in the Cyprus issue, thanking him for Egypt’s long standing stance at the level of the Islamic Conference Organisation.

On his part, Sisi said that the two countries enjoy relations of strategic importance and cooperation, while he referred to a substantial reinforcement of bilateral relations during Nicos Anastasiades' governance.

He said he and Christodoulides discussed energy matters and the transfer of Cypriot natural gas to LNGs in Egypt, as well as the issue of the electric interconnection and green energy.

Sisi went on to highlight the need for countries to respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other countries in the framework of international law, noting that as regards the Cyprus problem, Egypt supports Cyprus and always tries to contribute to the settlement of the problem on the basis of the UN Security Council resolutions. Moreover, he referred to the successful trilateral relation among Cyprus, Greece and Egypt.

President Christodoulides is accompanied by Foreign Minister Konstantinos Kombos, Energy, Commerce and Industry Minister George Papanastasiou, Government Spokesman Konstantinos Letymbiotis, Deputy Director of the President's diplomatic office Doros Venezis, and other officers.

Kombos and Papanastasiou had separate meetings with their Egyptian counterparts, where it was agreed that the two countries would jointly push for the inclusion of their electric interconnection in the EU’s list of projects of common interest. They also agreed to set up a Business Council with a view to enhance the relations between the two countries' business communities.

(Source: CNA)