ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi offered to boost Pakistan’s ties with Egypt by sharing counterterrorism experience during a meeting with President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in Cairo on Wednesday, the Pakistani foreign office said.
Qureshi left for Egypt on Tuesday on a two-day visit on the invitation of his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Hassan Shoukry.
During the meeting with El-Sisi, he expressed Islamabad’s desire to further strengthen and diversify bilateral ties, the foreign office said in a statement.
As he welcomed growth in bilateral defense ties, Qureshi told the Egyptian president that the two countries “could also share their experience in countering terrorism and extremism.”
On behalf of Pakistani President Arif Alvi, he also invited El-Sisi to visit Islamabad, which the Egyptian leader said would happen “at the earliest opportunity.”
Prior to his meeting with El-Sisi, Qureshi met prominent members of the Egyptian business community and urged Egyptian companies to invest in various sectors in Pakistan, particularly housing and construction, energy and health.
He also met with Shoukry and said they had “discussed ways to grow our ties, with greater people to people contact, trade and sustained engagement.”
Pleasure to meet FM #SamehShoukry. The relationship between Pakistan and Egypt is one of mutual trust and cooperation. FM Shoukry and I discussed ways to grow our ties, with greater people to people contact, trade and sustained engagement. Look forward to hosting FM Shoukry in pic.twitter.com/saQaqGxLD4
— Shah Mahmood Qureshi (@SMQureshiPTI) February 17, 2021
Qureshi’s visit comes less than two weeks after Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan reaffirmed Islamabad’s commitment to expand Pakistan-Egypt ties, particularly in the areas of trade, education and culture, in a meeting with the ambassador of Egypt to Pakistan, Tarek Dahroug.
Khan has also met El-Sisi twice since he became PM: first, on the sidelines of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Makkah Summit in 2019, and then on the sidelines of the 74th UN General Assembly in New York in 2019.
Last year, Khan also spoke with the Egyptian president over the phone regarding the PM’s “Global Initiative on Debt Relief” for developing countries during the coronavirus pandemic, which was supported by Egypt.