Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri held meetings with his Sudanese, Saudi Arabian and French counterparts this week. “We are seeing intensive diplomatic activity as we follow up and coordinate efforts on a host of bilateral and multilateral files. Egyptian relations with Sudan, Saudi Arabia and with France following Emmanuel Macron's election head our priorities,” said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid earlier this week. Shoukri described his meeting with Sudanese Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour as “candid and transparent” and stressed Sudanese-Egyptian relations were strong enough to overcome any difficulties. Egyptian policy towards Sudan is constant, said Shoukri, geared towards rapprochement and greater integration across all fields. Ghandour began his two-day visit to Cairo by conveying a message from Sudan's President Omar Al-Bashir to President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi. At a joint press conference held after his meeting with Shoukri, Ghandour said their talks had covered economic, political, social and cultural aspects of bilateral ties as well as coordination on regional and international issues. Ghandour called on the media in both countries to play a more positive role in preserving the historic ties between Cairo and Khartoum. His appeal followed accusations made by Al-Bashir that the Egyptian media was aggravating tensions between the two countries. Khartoum and Cairo's differences have recently escalated amid a furious exchange of accusations. Al-Bashir has accused Egyptian intelligence services of supporting Sudanese opposition groups fighting government forces while the Egyptian media accuses Khartoum of offering a safe haven to members of the Muslim Brotherhood which was declared a terrorist group by Cairo after the 2013 removal of Mohamed Morsi. The long disputed Halayeb-Shalateen triangle and Khartoum's decision to back Ethiopia's construction of the Renaissance Dam further complicate the picture. Earlier this year Al-Bashir said “the Halayeb-Shalateen Triangle is Sudanese but we are not going to go to war over it, it will be reclaimed through negotiations,” while Al-Sisi restated Egypt's claim to the area when he was defence minister. More recent differences include the imposition of visa requirements for Egyptians travelling to Sudan in April. Ghandour said the change was made to prevent the entry of terrorists from Egypt and was implemented in the wake of an Egyptian media campaign claiming Sudan was exporting terrorists to its northern neighbour. He added he would instruct the Sudanese Embassy in Cairo to resolve any outstanding issues related to issuing visas to Egyptian citizens. Cairo has also been angered by last week's decision by Khartoum to ban imports of Egyptian agricultural products. Ghandour said the decision was made on technical, not political, grounds and must be resolved in the same context. Shoukri and Ghandour agreed to activate existing mechanisms of security and military dialogue, boost bilateral ties and withhold support for any opposition groups fighting the Egyptian or Sudanese governments. The battle against terrorism was high on the agenda of Shoukri's meeting with his Saudi counterpart Adel Al-Jubeir this week. In a press conference following their meeting Al-Jubeir said Cairo and Riyadh had a comprehensive vision on how best to defeat terrorism. “We look forward to developing cooperation with Egypt especially in the field of countering extremism and terrorism and protecting Arab national security,” he said. Shoukri told journalists, “we discussed how to counter terrorism by ending the financial resourcing of terrorism and preventing the creation of safe havens for terror groups.” The Shoukri-Jubeir meeting took place a day before Egypt and Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Qatar. The two foreign ministers last met on the sidelines of last month's Islamic summit in Riyadh. Relations between Egypt and Saudi Arabia have fluctuated since the 2011 uprising which forced Hosni Mubarak to step down. Hostile to the Arab Spring revolutions in general, and to the Egyptian revolution in particular, Riyadh was relieved by the subsequent removal of Mohamed Morsi and pumped billions of dollars in aid and investment into Egypt following the 30 June Revolution. Tensions between Egypt and Saudi Arabia nonetheless bubbled to the surface, not least over the handling of regional crises in Syria and Yemen. On SyriaRiyadh insists Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad must be removed while Cairo advocates a political settlement that protects the unity of the country and involves all active players. The two capitals have also been at loggerheads over Cairo's back channel communications with Iran and what Riyadh views as Cairo's reluctance to fully commit to the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen. Today's meeting with new French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian signals the opening of a new and important phase of Egyptian-French relations, according to Abu Zeid. The Foreign Ministry spokesman said developments in Libya and efforts to combat terrorism are likely to be the top priorities of the two officials.
