Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi welcomed his Estonian counterpart Alar Karis in Cairo to discuss regional and international issues, notably the Palestinian cause. During a joint press conference with his Estonian counterpart on Wednesday, Al-Sisi said that the visit reflected the two countries' keenness to strengthen their relations during the coming period and to invest all possible opportunities to reach broader horizons of cooperation.
The president reviewed the tireless Egyptian efforts to stop the unjustified and continuous Israeli escalation in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon and the expansion of the scope of Israeli attacks to include Yemen and Syria.
Al-Sisi stressed the importance of concerted efforts to reach an immediate ceasefire and prevent the region from slipping into a large-scale regional war. He also emphasized the importance of establishing a sovereign Palestinian state on the lines of June 4, 1967, and considered it the cornerstone for achieving stability in the Middle East region.
Al-Sisi noted that the bilateral talks confirmed the two countries' agreement on the importance of intensifying joint work to enhance bilateral relations between the two friendly countries, as well as their desire to deepen economic, trade, and investment relations.
He highlighted the keen interest of the Estonian President in bringing a delegation of Estonian businessmen and investors to Egypt to explore potential areas of cooperation, particularly in the energy, mining, education, and food industries. This is akin to the growing engagements in the fields of communications, information technology, and digital transformation, areas in which Estonia excels.
Al-Sisi added that there was agreement during the talks on the importance of maintaining the regularity of political consultations and technical visits between the two countries to give the necessary impetus to relations in various fields and to discuss various areas of cooperation, including technical training, artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity.
The two presidents also discussed ways to enhance tripartite cooperation in Africa to achieve the common interest of all parties.
President Al-Sisi stated that the discussions stressed the importance of exchanging expertise in combating terrorism and organized crime, including the smuggling of illegal immigrants, adding: "I welcomed Estonia's continued support for the priority files for Egypt within the European Union institutions."
He continued: "We also discussed many regional and international issues, most notably Libya, Syria, Sudan, Yemen, Red Sea security, the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, food security, and energy security, as we agreed on the importance of intensifying international efforts to deal with these crises and the need to reach peaceful solutions to existing conflicts and consolidate peace and stability."
The Estonian president stressed his country's interest in enhancing cooperation with Egypt in many fields and creating more opportunities for cooperation, especially in transportation, energy, defence, health, technology, mining, and engineering.
Karis said that the Estonian government is keen to build educational relations between the oldest universities in Estonia and Egyptian universities, explaining that the discussions with President Al-Sisi included security matters in Europe and the Middle East.
He expressed his appreciation for Egypt's efforts to find a peaceful solution to the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and promote peace in the Middle East. His country recognizes its role as a mediator and peacemaker in the region and supports the two-state solution as the only path to lasting peace.
The Estonian President praised Egypt's role as a key partner for the European Union and NATO, stressing that this partnership is a beneficial basis for cooperation in the fields of trade, security, and stability in the region.
