President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi met with Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir on Monday, during his official visit to Egypt, and the two held talks on various topics. Al-Sisi welcomed Al-Bashir and praised common historical, cultural, and social factors between the countries and their relationship which spans thousands of years. He also praised the positive developments recently witnessed in the relations between the two countries at various levels. He further refereed to the importance of quadrilateral meeting that was held in Cairo in February, by foreign ministers and heads of the intelligence services of the two countries, during which they discussed issues of common concern between the two sides. The president also stressed Egypt's keenness to continue coordination and intensive consultation with Sudan in order to consolidate cooperation during the coming period For his part, the Sudanese president also praised the cooperation between the two countries and their historic relations and welcomed cooperation between the two countries in various fields. He also stressed the importance of boosting economic and trade relations to achieve integration between the two countries' development efforts. He also pointed out that the challenges resulting from the current regional situation and the necessity to continue intensive coordination between them in a way that contributes to the realisation of their common interests. Al-Bashir also welcomed the continuous consultations between the two countries, stressing on the special relationship between them. The two sides discussed ways to enhance the various aspects of bilateral relations with the participation of the concerned ministers from both sides and agreed on the necessity of maximising economic ties, especially in the fields of agriculture, livestock production, transport, and infrastructure. They further stressed on the importance of accelerating the implementation of the project on electrical interconnection between Egypt and Sudan. Al-Bashir's visit to Cairo comes in the wake of heightened tensions between the two neighbours over the stalled Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) negotiations, as Egypt sees building the dam on the Nile River as an existential threat. The conflict over the sovereignty of Halayeb and Shalateen, as well as Sudan's accusations against Egypt of interference in its internal affairs, also contribute to the tense relations. Meanwhile, Sudan returned its ambassador to Cairo earlier this month after his withdrawal for two months, over claims that Egypt demanded Sudan's exclusion from the tripartite negotiations on the impact of the GERD. Al-Sisi and Al-Bashir met in January in Addis Ababa, where they agreed to form a ministerial committee to address mutual affairs, cool tensions, and overcome any possible difficulties over the dam.
