BAKU – Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev witnessed Saturday the signing of several memoranda of understanding (MoUs) between the governmental entities in the two countries.
Some of the MoUs cover cooperation in the spheres of culture and water resources.
Also, an MoU was signed between the Egyptian Trade and Industry Ministry and the Azerbaijani Ministry of Economy.
Following the signing ceremony, a joint press conference was held by the two leaders.
This came also following the talks held between President Sisi and his Azerbaijani counterpart Aliyev at the presidential palace in the capital Baku.
President Sisi was accorded an official reception ceremony, in which national anthems were played and honor guards inspected.
At the beginning of the meeting, President Sisi extended deepest condolences to Azerbaijan after Friday’s attack on its embassy in Tehran that killed its security chief and injured two guards, said Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi.
President Sisi also wished speedy recovery to those injured in the attack, affirming Egypt’s full solidarity with Azerbaijan in face of this painful incident, according to the spokesman.
The Azerbaijani president, for his part, expressed gratitude to President Sisi over this gesture. He also welcomed Sisi’s visit to Azerbaijan.
He further lauded the close ties binding Egypt and Azerbaijan, affirming his country’s keenness on further enhancing bilateral relations at all levels, especially in light of Egypt’s crucial role in entrenching peace and stability in the Middle East and Africa.
For his part, President Sisi expressed gratitude to President Aliyev for his invitation to visit Azerbaijan and for the warm reception and hospitality accorded to him.
President Sisi, meanwhile, hailed the longstanding relations between Egypt and Azerbaijan, saying that he is the first Egyptian president to visit Baku.
Egypt and Azerbaijan are keen on promoting and enhancing bilateral relations in the various domains, affirmed President Sisi.
The spokesman, meanwhile, said that the talks between the two presidents tackled ways of propelling bilateral relations in numerous spheres.
The spokesman further said that the Azerbaijani president lauded the economic reforms in Egypt, which led to the remarkable improvement in the indicators of the Egyptian economy.
The two sides underlined the need of building on the distinguished ties binding Egypt and Azerbaijan at the official and popular levels, added the spokesman.
They also affirmed the need of working on promoting the volume of trade exchange and enhancing economic partnerships between the private sectors of the two countries through forming a joint businessmen council.
The talks covered the latest regional and international issues of mutual interest, said the presidential spokesman.
In this respect, the Azerbaijani president hailed the positive role played by Egypt in light of its unremitting efforts to reach a political settlement to the various regional crises.
The spokesman affirmed Egypt and Azerbaijan’s identical views regarding efforts to reach a political settlement in Syria and attain the aspirations of the Syrian people.
As for the latest developments in Libya, President Sisi reviewed Egypt’s viewpoint to reach a settlement in Libya and its efforts to support the political, constitutional and economic solutions in this respect.
The meeting also touched upon the repercussions of the Russia-Ukraine crisis as well as exchanging viewpoints on the latest developments regarding the Palestinian cause.
Also, efforts to combat terrorism and extremism figured high during the meeting.
President Sisi, meanwhile, underlined the need for rallying efforts by the international community to uproot terrorism, whether with regards to financing terrorist groups or supplying them with weapons and terrorist elements.
The Azerbaijani president hailed Egypt’s plan to uproot terrorism through supporting economic and social development and fighting extremist ideology that leads to terrorism.
