Egypt And Turkey: Relations And Cooperation Continue To Improve

12/09/2023
2 minutes

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on the sidelines of the G20 summit, which ended on September 10 in New Delhi.

The face-to-face meeting marks a return to cooperation between the two countries after years of frozen diplomatic relations. In fact, Ankara and Cairo have had no contact since 2013, when el-Sisi (then defense minister) led an uprising that overthrew the Turkey-supported Muslim Brotherhood government led by Mohammed Morsi, elected after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.

Recently, Erdogan’s foreign policy has changed, and, in particular, there is a rapprochement with Egypt. In 2021, a Turkish delegation visited Cairo to break the ice and find a way to normalize relations, followed by a symbolic handshake between el-Sisi and Erdogan at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar on November 20, 2022. Now their meeting took place in New Delhi.

In July 2023, the two countries officially restored diplomatic relations by appointing their ambassadors: Salih Mutlu Sen became the Turkish Ambassador to Cairo, and Amr el-Hamami became the Egyptian Ambassador to Turkey.

“The meeting discussed bilateral relations between Turkey and Egypt, efforts to increase trade volumes, new cooperation in the field of energy, as well as regional and global issues,” explained the Turkish Communications Directorate. The Turkish agency Anadolu also clarifies that relations between the two countries have opened a new era since the appointment of the respective ambassadors.

Erdogan, emphasizing the importance of the Egyptian administration’s support for Turkish investors and companies, explained the great importance of resuming cooperation in the energy sector (LNG and nuclear energy), as well as in the fields of culture and education.

According to el-Sisi’s spokesman, the leaders reaffirmed their “determination to strengthen regional cooperation based on mutual respect, common interests, and good intentions to achieve security and stability in the Middle East.”