Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed on Tuesday several regional and local issues with his Cypriot counterpart Nikos Christodoulides. The ministers exchanged their state's opinions on the developments in Syria and the Gaza Strip, as well as countering terrorism. They also discussed mutual agreements concerning energy sources, a tight bond that the two countries, as well as Greece, have been working on developing since President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi came to office in 2014. During a press conference, Shourky praised Cyprus' efforts to "strengthen Egypt's position in the EU." According to Cypriot media, during his stay in Cairo, Christodoulides will also meet with the Prime Minister Sherif Ismail. Christodoulides' visit to Egypt is his second since taking office as foreign minister in March, underscoring the close ties between the two regional allies and their efforts towards a joint energy strategy. In March, Egypt, Cyprus, and Greece signed a memorandum of understanding for the European-African electricity interconnection project with a capacity of 2,000 MW and initial investments of $4bn. The Cypriot side has identified the location of the cable track, while the Egyptian Electricity Transmission Company (EETC) will identify the landing point of the sea cable. It was initially agreed that the cable landing point would be about 100 km west of Damietta. Egypt expects that natural gas extracted from the countries of the Mediterranean Basin will be shipped to Egypt for processing and reexporting through Egyptian liquefaction plants to Europe, fulfilling the dream of Egypt becoming a regional energy hub.
