By Manal Abdel Fattah
Yesterday, Cairo hosted the activities of the Egyptian-European Summit, to raise relations between Egypt and the European Union to the level of a “strategic and comprehensive partnership”, with the aim of achieving a qualitative leap in cooperation and coordination between the two sides, in order to achieve common interests.
Participated in the summit, which was held at the Federal Palace, were President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, the Prime Minister of Belgium, Alexander De Croo, the current President of the European Union, the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Chancellor of Austria, Karl Nehammer, and the President of Cyprus, Nikos Christodoulides and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
On the sidelines of the Egyptian-European Summit, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Sisi praised the momentum witnessed in bilateral relations between Egypt and Italy in the recent period, and reviewed ways to enhance cooperation in various fields.
The discussions covered joint cooperation in the sectors of food security and agricultural production, and the partnership between the two countries in the field of agriculture and land reclamation with the aim of transferring advanced Italian technology in this field, in order to maximize the returns from these projects and open the horizons of exporting foodstuffs from Egypt to Europe.
The discussions also dealt with the regional situation, especially the situation in the Gaza Strip, where Egyptian efforts aimed at a ceasefire in the Strip and the entry of humanitarian aid to protect the Strip from the humanitarian catastrophe to which it is exposed were reviewed.
It is worth noting that President Sisi held separate bilateral meetings with European leaders, during which he welcomed the elevation of relations between Egypt and the European Union to the level of a strategic and comprehensive partnership, with the aim of raising the level of cooperation between the two sides, which confirms the understanding of Egypt’s pivotal role in European-Central relations, as well as its It reflects the historical relations between the two sides and their common interests.
During the meetings, the President discussed aspects of economic and investment cooperation, and the development of specific steps to ensure optimal benefit from the comparative advantages of both parties. The meetings dealt with cooperation in the fields of industry localization, technology transfer and training, and how to combat illegal immigration. Cooperation in the field of Energy, especially natural gas production, and Egyptian-Cypriot cooperation in this field, as well as benefiting from the promising opportunities offered by Egypt in the fields of clean energy and green hydrogen, and many existing cooperation projects, which are being studied with Greece, Belgium, Austria and Italy.
