Washington - US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis' spoke with Egyptian Minister of Defense General Sedki Sobhy on Tuesday during which Mattis expressed his "commitment to advancing the US-Egyptian defense partnership." Pentagon Spokesman Jeff Davis said in a statement Wednesday that for his part, Sobhy underscored "the strength of the countries' history of military-to-military cooperation" and provided an assessment of "shared terrorism concerns." The two leaders affirmed that they will remain in close communication in the pursuit of US-Egyptian strategic objectives," the statement added. Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sameh Shoukry is currently in Washington and participated in the ministerial conference "Coalition Against ISIS" in Washington DC on 22 March 2017. Egypt's President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi is scheduled to visit the nation's capital next month, where he is due to hold talks with US President Donald Trump.