CAIRO — The Egyptian Presidency in an announcement on Tuesday stressed the importance of Tuesday’s trilateral summit held by Greece, Egypt and Cyprus in Athens.

Specifically, the representative of the Egyptian Presidency stated that the trilateral Athens Summit aims to continue to build on what has been achieved during the previous eight summits, to assess the development in the various areas of cooperation and to monitor the projects implemented as part of a trilateral mechanism, in the context of strengthening the excellent relations between the three countries, while deepening their consultations and discussing ways to address the challenges in the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean.”

Regarding the meeting of the Egyptian President with the Greek Prime Minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the presidency noted that President al-Sisi thanked the Greek Prime Minister for the warm welcome and hospitality, praising the strong and historic relations between Egypt and Greece and the ties between the two governments and the two peoples.

As noted by the Egyptian Presidency, on his part, Mitsotakis expressed his pleasure for the visit of the Egyptian President to Athens, which takes place in the context of the historical ties between Egypt and Greece, praising these strong relations between the two countries, which are developing significantly in all areas. He underlined Greece’s desire for their further consolidation in the context of bilateral cooperation and friendship between the two countries, but also the trilateral mechanism with Cyprus, especially in the light of Egypt’s role as a pillar of stability in the Middle East, as well as its efforts in the fight against terrorism and illegal migration.

According to the statement, the two leaders discussed the two countries’ continued cooperation on the political, military and trade levels, as well as their ongoing coordination in regional issues in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, stressing President al-Sisi’s willingness to support and deepen the excellent relations between the two countries and to activate their existing framework of cooperation, both bilaterally and within the framework of the trilateral cooperation mechanism with Cyprus.

The spokesman for the Egyptian presidency added that during the meeting they discussed ways to strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries on all levels, in particular mutual support within regional and international organisations in a way that reflects the excellent relations between Greece and Egypt. At the same time, the two leaders discussed the global pandemic, the strengthening of economic, trade and business relations – among others – in the fields of tourism, agriculture and aquaculture, as well as the continuation of cooperation and coordination in the field of energy and in particular in relation to the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum.

Finally, according to the Egyptian presidency, regional and international issues of common interest were discussed, including efforts to combat terrorism and illegal migration, as well as developments in the current crises in the region, in particular the Libyan crisis, in parallel with the efforts to revive the peace process between Israel and Palestine, as well as developments on the issue of the Grand Renaissance Dam.

(ANA/N. Katsikas)