By Mohammed Hendawy,
PRESIDENT Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, in his special meeting with President Isaias Afwerki, stressed his country’s keenness in cooperation and continuous coordination with the State of Eritrea in all fields and pointing out that due to the importance of an African dimension to Egypt, his country is returning to its role and responsibilities to Africa.
This came during a meeting he had with President Isaias Afwerki at Al Etihadia Presidential Palace in the presence of Engineer Ibrahim Mahlab, chairman of the Council of Ministers, and Sameh Shoukry, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Mr. Khalid Abdul Aziz, Minister of Youth and Sports, and Ambassador Mahmoud Nile, Egypt’s ambassador to Eritrea.
From the Eritrean side present was Osman Saleh, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Yemane Ghebreab, Eritrean presidential adviser, and Ambassador Vasil Ghebrselassa Takla, Ambassador of the State of Eritrea in Cairo, and Hassan, secretary of the Eritrean President.
Spokesman for the Presidency of the Republic, Ambassador Ihab Badawi, said that President Al-Sisi started the meeting by welcoming the Eritrean President and praising Eritrea’s stance in support of the June 30 revolution, a support that was crystallized at the level of the African Union, particularly in the African Peace and Security Council.
The Chairman reviewed in this context the Egyptian efforts to contribute to development in African countries, which manifested itself in the creation of the Egyptian Partnership for Development Agency, which began its work since the first of July.
For his part, the Eritrean President thanked the president for the warm reception and pointing out that this time was the second visit to Egypt since he participated in the Presidential inauguration ceremony last June.
He also praised President Al-Sisi for the June 30 revolution confirming that it was substantial and represented a milestone that restored Egypt to its traditional role of leading regionally, whether in the Middle East or in the African continent, and stressing his country’s keenness to cooperate with Egypt in various political and economic fields.
He also expressed his welcome to Egypt’s return to the African Union so that it restore to exercise its usual balance to the African relations.
On the issue of the Palestinian, President Afwerki praised president Sisi for Egypt’s tireless efforts that resulted in reaching a cease-fire in Gaza and the adoption of the truce, stressing the need to build and invest on these efforts; for the resumption of negotiations between the Palestinian and Israeli sides to reach a final settlement of this protracted conflict.
The meeting dealt with the review of the latest developments in the African continent, especially with regard to the fight against terrorism and extremist ideology and piracy.
President Sisi and Afwerki share the same vision on the issue and agreed on the need to strengthen cooperation and coordination between the African countries in this regard, and in order to achieve peace, security and stability on the African continent.
(Software Translation from Arabic)
