Egypt and Armenia have kicked off a new round of talks on economic and technical cooperation for the first time in over a decade, Egypt's foreign ministry said on Wednesday. Experts from the two countries met in the Armenian capital of Yerevan o begin the fifth round of a bilateral cooperation committe, Egypt's ambassador to Armenia, Tarek Maaty, said in a statement issued by the foreign ministry. The committee was last convened in Cairo in 2005. The talks are especially important as they highlight "the determination of the two sides to push forward economic, trade and technical cooperation," the statement added. A number of agreements are expected to be signed on bilateral cooperation. Armenia's President Serzh Sargsyan has said he looks forward to a visit by Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to the country, Maaty said. Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian also renewed his invitation to Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry to visit Yerevan. In July, Egypt and Armenia launched a regular flight connection between the two countries, as they celebrated 25 years since the signing of a 1992 agreement creating bilateral diplomatic ties. The Armenian embassy in Cairo was opened in March 1992 and the Egyptian embassy in Armenia was set up almost a year later, according to the website of Egypt's State Information Service In 2015, Egypt's Coptic Orthodox pope, Tawadros II, visited Armenia to commemorate the victims of the Armenian genocide.
