Egypt's Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry and his Cypriot counterpart, Nikos Christodoulides, discussed on Thursday in Athens bilateral relations and coordination over regional issues of common interest. According to an official statement, Egypt's Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Hafez said both ministers affirmed the closeness of bilateral relations in various fields, and the importance of continued coordination between the two countries on regional developments. The meeting between the two ministers comes ahead of the Athens-hosted Philia Forum between the foreign ministers of Greece, Cyprus, Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, set for later today. The two ministers stressed the necessity of speeding up the implementation of agreed upon projects on a bilateral level. They also agreed on the need to speed up implementation of projects agreed upon through the tripartite cooperation mechanism between Egypt, Greece and Cyprus, which was signed in Nicosia in October 2020. The implementation of tripartite projects would contribute in further bolstering relations between the three countries in various political and economic cooperation fields, the statement said. The Egyptian foreign minister also praised Cyprus' support for the development of relations between Egypt and the European Union on various levels. Hafez added that Shoukry and Christodoulides have expressed their satisfaction for the ratification of several member states of the East Mediterranean Gas Forum charter, which was signed in September and goes into effect in March 2021. The forum will discuss further strengthening of cooperation between the countries, pandemic efforts, and common security challenges in the region. France, Iraq, and Jordan have been invited to participate in the forum, according to the Greek foreign ministry. Earlier on Thursday, Shoukry met with his Greek counterpart, Nikos Dendia, to discuss bilateral relations coordinate stances on variopus regional issues ahead of the forum.
