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 his participation in the Egyptian-European Summit, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, discussed a number of bilateral cooperation files, most notably the two sides’ signing of the Joint Political Declaration document to launch the path of upgrading relations between Egypt and the European Union to the level of a “strategic and comprehensive partnership.”
The regional situation was also discussed, with the President stressing the necessity of a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, stressing that Egypt rejects the forced displacement of Palestinians to its lands and will not allow it.
The President of the European Commission said that Gaza is facing famine, which is unacceptable, and called for a quick ceasefire agreement, continuing: “Gaza is facing famine and we cannot accept that.”
She added: “It is important to reach a quick ceasefire agreement now, leading to the release of prisoners and allowing more humanitarian aid to reach Gaza.”
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.
