U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said that Egypt is an increasingly critical partner in his country war against extreme groups, on the sidelines of the Counter Violent Extremism summit held in Washington Thursday. Kerry's remarks came during a joint press conference with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, after their meeting with EU High Representative Mogherini and with the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Kerry stressed "the horrendous, grotesque killing of 21 Egyptian Christians, that took place in Libya, is an added incentive for the world to take action to stamp out this kind of terrorist activity and this terrorist group." "Egypt has always been a leader in the region ... and we work together to try to shape the path ahead as Egypt continues to move to the elections and the fulfillment of its promises about democracy, and as we work together to deal with the very real violent extremist challenges of the region," Kerry added. For his part, Shoukry expressed "appreciation of the government and people of Egypt for the messages of condolences" that Egypt has received at various levels of the Administration, the White House, the State Department, and also on the personal level. He added that Egypt is looking forward to enhance the bilateral relations between the two countries in the various important fields, whether political or the military and security cooperation. "We believe that the relationship between the United States and Egypt is a resource of importance. We hope that the United States will continue to cooperate effectively and to support Egypt during this time," Shoukry said.
