Turkiye’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu held talks with his Egyptian counterpart in Cairo on Saturday, in the first such visit after a decade of ruptured ties. Turkey’s top diplomat also said President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi would meet to mark the end of a decade of estrangement between the two countries.
Cavusoglu met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry for talks on “various aspects” of bilateral relations, said Ahmed Abu Zaid, a spokesman for the Egyptian foreign ministry.
Shoukry said the two sides have found common ground to relaunch political and economic relations to reach “conclusions in the interests of the two countries.” “The talks were in-depth, transparent, and forthright,” he told a televised joint news conference. “We certainly look forward. We look at everything that can benefit the two countries.”
Cavusoglu spoke about making up for time lost since ambassador-level relations ended in late 2013. “There is a huge level of untapped potential but unfortunately we have lost those nine years and in order to close this nine-year gap we have to work even harder,” he said.–Reuters
