Turkish - Egyptian cooperation with Balkan countries and Africa under discussion

Ambassador Fathi El-Shazeli, Egypt's assistant foreign minister for European affairs, stated that he discussed with Turkish officials an arrangement for convening meetings of the joint economic committee and the joint tourism committee in July, in addition to a visit by a governmental delegation with Turkish businessmen during October.

In a press statement after his return to Cairo from Ankara, where he headed Egypt's delegation to four days of official consultations between the Egyptian and Turkish foreign ministries, he said that they discussed all issues concerning methods of enchanting bilateral relations in addition to the topics, relations and the issues between the regional forces and some issues of common interest, like developments in the Middle East peace process, the situation in the Balkan states especially the Kosovo problem, and the repercussions of the nuclear tests on the Indian sub-continent, which showed the insufficiency of the current systems for stemming the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Shazeli added that during the talks, they discussed the topic of joint cooperation between Egypt and Turkey with another third country of the Balkan's, and the area of the recently independent countries of the European Union or one of the African countries.

Shazeli said that he presented during his visit to Turkey the possibility of benefiting from the Egyptian industrial and petroleum drilling experience.