By Manal Abdel Fattah
Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid, the official spokesman and Director of the Public Diplomacy Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, stated that Mr. Sameh Shoukry, Minister of Foreign Affairs, received today, Thursday, Anthony Blinken, Secretary of State of the United States, during his current visit to Cairo.
The official spokesman explained that Minister Shukry touched on various aspects of the strategic relations between Egypt and the United States and ways to strengthen and consolidate them, and the intensification of cooperation frameworks at all levels that the current stage is witnessing, as well as the growing pace of coordination and exchange of visions regarding regional and international issues, most notably the sector crisis.
Gaza and ways to end it and contain its repercussions.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs praised the important positive milestones witnessed last year in the path of Egyptian/American relations in the economic field, in addition to the continued American support for many development projects in the education and health sectors, in addition to strengthening the role of the private sector in agriculture, tourism and scientific research.
On another level, the official spokesman explained that the Minister of Foreign Affairs reviewed with his American counterpart the Egyptian efforts aimed at reaching a truce in the Gaza Strip to reach a permanent ceasefire, stressing the need to intensify all efforts in order to reach a comprehensive ceasefire as soon as possible. The importance of implementing Security Council Resolution No. 2720 regarding the work of the United Nations mechanism to coordinate and monitor the entry of aid, and overcoming the obstacles placed by Israel in this regard.
Minister Shukri reaffirmed Egypt’s firm position regarding the warning of the severe risks of any military operation in the city of Rafah, and the dire humanitarian consequences that will result from it, which will have the greatest impact in doubling the extremely dire humanitarian situation the sector is currently witnessing. The Minister of Foreign Affairs recalled Egypt’s complete rejection of attempts to displace the Palestinian people outside their lands, warning of the dangerous and increasing regional repercussions of expanding the conflict in the region in a way that threatens the stability and safety of the region and the world.
The State Department spokesman added that Minister Blinken expressed his gratitude for visiting Egypt, and the United States’ keenness to strengthen its strategic relationship with it in all fields. The efforts made by the United States to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and to support negotiations to exchange prisoners and detainees in order to reach a humanitarian truce were also reviewed.
The meeting also touched on a number of regional issues of common interest, as the ministers were keen to exchange assessments and review efforts aimed at achieving peace in the growing hotbeds of tension in the region.
