ANKARA: Turkiye’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Egypt’s leader Abdel Fattah El-Sisi have said they wanted to strengthen their cooperation as they met in Ankara on Wednesday in a bid to mend ties.
“We will strengthen our cooperation in all areas,” said Erdogan. Earlier he visited El-Sisi in Cairo in mid-February when the two leaders said they had turned over a “new leaf” in their relations.
Ankara and Cairo had severed ties in 2013 after El-Sisi, then defence minister, ousted President Muhammad Mursi, an ally of Turkiye.
Erdogan at the time said he would never talk to anyone like El-Sisi, who in 2014 became president of Egypt. But ties between the two countries have warmed as their interests aligned on several matters, including the war in Gaza.
The two leaders on Wednesday, signed 17 cooperation pacts, according to the Turkish presidency. “We want to improve our cooperation with Egypt in the domain of energy, especially natural gas and nuclear power,” Erdogan said.
Despite the estrangement in ties, trade between the two countries never ceased and Turkiye is Egypt’s fifth-largest trading partner.
The two leaders said Wednesday they want to enhance their bilateral trade to $15 billion in five years from $10 billion. According to the Turkish Presidency, the two leaders also discussed the possible sale of drones to Egypt.
On Gaza, they both stressed a ceasefire and greater deliveries of humanitarian assistance to the besieged Palestinian population.
El-Sisi also called for an end to the escalation in the West Bank, where Israeli troops have been leading a military campaign for the last week.
The Egyptian president said they also discussed Somalia, saying they agreed on the need to preserve the unity and territorial integrity of the African state.
