Ankara
\nEgypt\u2019s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has concluded his first visit to Turkey since he took office in 2014, in what constitutes the next step in mending the ties between the two countries after his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan made his first visit to Egypt since 2014 in February.
\nThe two presidents also headed the first meeting of the Egyptian-Turkish Strategic Cooperation Council on Wednesday.
\nIn a 36-point declaration, the council outlined the fields in which the two countries intend to cooperate, one year before the centenary of diplomatic relations between them.
\nAmong them was an undertaking to \u201cpromote economic and trade relations \u2026 to increase their trade volume\u201d to $15bn, a tripling of the current annual trade volume.
\n\u2018Joint stand\u2019
\nIn a joint news conference after the visit, Erdogan and el-Sisi expressed their intention to deepen relations and cooperation on a number of regional political issues.
\nMinisters from both countries signed 18 memorandums of understanding on cooperation in fields from energy and agriculture to education, tourism and transport, with Erdogan saying he aimed to deepen cooperation with Egypt on nuclear energy and natural gas.
\nSome observers say there was discussion of Turkey selling drones to Egypt, but nothing official was communicated in this regard, other than an article in the declaration that pledged \u201cexpanding contacts in diverse fields, including military, security, and consular affairs\u201d.
\nPolitically, the two leaders spoke of cooperating in dealing with Israel\u2019s war on Gaza.
\n\u201cI reiterate the joint stand of Egypt and Turkey calling for an immediate ceasefire, rejecting further escalation by Israel in the occupied West Bank,\u201d el-Sisi said.
\nAnalyst Erdogan Aykac, who specialises in Turkish politics at the Netherlands\u2019 University of Groningen, believes both Turkey and Egypt feel they are losing their grip on the situation in Gaza, and want to work together to increase their influence.
\nEl-Sisi also mentioned the intention to work together to resolve the conflict in Libya, the issue of gas exploration rights in the Eastern Mediterranean and the civil war in Sudan.
\nHe added that Turkey and Egypt agreed on the necessity to maintain the unity of Somalia, in reference to Somaliland\u2019s secessionist aims.
\nTurkey has an important base in Somalia, while Egypt announced a deal last week to send arms to Somalia to counter Ethiopia\u2019s influence in the Horn of Africa.<\/p>\n
The rift
\nSuch a news conference would have been unthinkable five years ago.
\nA rift that started in 2013 showed the first sign of mending when photos were shared around the world of the \u201clandmark handshake\u201d between Erdogan and el-Sisi at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
\nFrom the Turkish side, the rapprochement stemmed from a general shift in foreign policy from 2020-21 onwards. For Egypt, rapprochement came after reconciliation with Turkey\u2019s ally Qatar in early 2021, its suffering economy possibly, making it more open to opportunity.
\nRelations had soured after then-General el-Sisi ousted late President Mohamed Morsi in a popular coup in 2013 and started a crackdown on Morsi\u2019s Muslim Brotherhood.
\nErdogan became one of the fiercest critics of el-Sisi\u2019s power grab, saying he would never recognise him as Egypt\u2019s legitimate leader.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Ankara Egypt\u2019s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has concluded his first visit to Turkey since he took office in 2014, in what constitutes the next step in mending the ties between the two countries after his counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan made his first visit to Egypt since 2014 in February. The two presidents also headed the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":429490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-429465","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n