Egypt says Turkish foreign minister's upcoming visit to herald improved ties

By Ibrahim El-Khazen

ANKARA (AA) - The Egyptian Foreign Ministry on Friday called the upcoming visit of Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu to Cairo a sign of improving bilateral ties.

According to a statement by Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid, the visit to Cairo on Saturday was being seen "as a start for normalizing relations between Egypt and Türkiye.”

He said the visit aims at “launching a dialogue on regional and international issues of mutual concern with the aim of reaching a common understanding and achieving the interests of the two countries and their peoples.”

According to Abu Zeid, Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will receive his Turkish counterpart in a bilateral meeting at the ministry's headquarters in downtown Cairo.

The bilateral meeting will be followed by extensive discussions in the presence of the delegations of the two countries and a joint press conference, he added.

Earlier on Friday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry announced that Cavusoglu will visit Egypt on Saturday at the invitation of his counterpart Shoukry in a visit that is the first of its kind by a Turkish foreign minister in 11 years.

Shoukry's visit to Türkiye in February was the first by an Egyptian foreign minister to Ankara in more than a decade.

*Ikram Imane Kouachi contributed to this report.