Egypt and the United Kingdom have kicked off the joint military exercise ‘Ahmose' on Tuesday with an inaugural ceremony at the Mohamed Naguib Military Base in Alexandria. In a press release, the UK Embassy in Cairo said the month-long exercise, which sees the participation of around 165 military personnel, will bring together British and Egyptian troops and contribute to the growing strategic military partnership between both countries. “Egypt and the UK face the shared enemy of terrorism, which is threatening the stability of the region and the world. We know that in order to defeat this threat we must work together and share best practice in realistic scenarios. Ahmose marks the beginning of increased defence cooperation between our countries, to develop and ensure a safer, more secure region,” British ambassador to Egypt Sir Geoffrey Adams said. UK Defence attaché to Egypt Colonel Ed Sandry described the joint drill as “a brilliant opportunity for the UK and Egypt to work together on building our defence resilience.” “We are learning from each other and building on the strategic security relationship with Egypt, a strong partner and ally in the region. This exercise is another success story in our joint military work,” Sandry said. The joint exercise comes nearly a year after the Egyptian and British ministries of defense signed a memorandum of understanding to execute joint military exercises as part of efforts to bolster counterterrorism cooperation. The UK has also joined forces with Egypt, the United States and a number of other countries to the ‘Bright Star' military exercise, according to the embassy.
