Gazette Staff BERLIN, July 4, 2018 - Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri and his German counterpart Heiko Maas reviewed Egypt's anti-terrorism efforts, illegal migration, democratic transformation, human rights as well as the developments of Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam file, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said yesterday. The two foreign ministers met in Berlin on Tuesday. During the meeting, Foreign Minister Shoukri said that Egypt supported development programmes in the Nile Basin countries. It believes that the River Nile should be a reason for cooperation and achieving joint gains for all Nile Basin countries, Abu Zeid said. Shoukri said that Egypt was only demanding that its water security was not harmed as the Egyptian people depended on the River Nile as their only source of water, the spokesman said. The Egyptian foreign minister also congratulated his German counterpart during the meeting on taking office and invited him to visit Egypt in the coming months. FM Shoukri also congratulated his German counterpart on winning the non-permanent membership in the United Nations Security Council for the years 2019-2020. He expressed his appreciation of the relations between the two countries. The Egyptian Foreign Minister also said that he is looking forward to a quality leap in various fields of cooperation. He also highlighted a host of steps that have recently been taken for boosting bilateral relations, the spokesman said. These steps include, at the foremost, the introduction of an additional protocol to legalise the conditions of German institutions operating in Egypt, putting into effect the German government-owned development bank KFW and the June 7 signing of an agreement to establish two offices at the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) in Cairo. The Foreign Minister said that he is looking forward to resuming the holding of a joint committee under the chairmanship of the foreign ministers of both countries which is the main institutional framework for bilateral relations. FM Shoukri also called on the German side to cancel the ban by German airlines on flights to Sinai in the light of the stable security conditions in South Sinai and the strengthening of security measures at all Egyptian airports.The ban was issued in August 2017 and was extended until June 28, 2018. The German Foreign Minister said that Egypt was\a special partner for Germany. He praised the ongoing economic developments which Germany was closely following. He said that German companies were keen on increasing their investments in Egypt, pointing out that he was looking forward to visiting Egypt soon. During a breakfast meeting on Wednesday with Norbert Röttgen, the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the German Bundestag, Shoukri also called for encouragement to German companies to invest in Egypt. Shoukri said the volume of German investments in Egypt was not commensurate with the deeply-rooted ties between the two countries as well as the economic leverage of Germany as the largest European economy. Shoukri called for intensifying consultations with Germany on regional and international issues as Germany won a non-permanent seat at the United Nations Security Council in 2019-2020. Shoukri briefed Röttgen on regional conditions as well as Egypt's economic and social development plan, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said. Shoukri also apprised the German official of the measures adopted by Egypt within the framework of the economic reform programme to encourage foreign direct investments, especially enacting new investment-friendly legislation. He also reviewed counter-terrorism efforts, citing the operation in Sinai. Röttgen expressed deep appreciation of Egypt's historical role, considering Egypt as the cornerstone of regional stability. Röttgen asked Shoukri to expound Egypt's vision on the Libyan and Syrian crises as well as the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Shoukri said Egypt's vision focuses on the importance of seeking political solutions to the Syrian and Libyan crises through getting the feuding parties to sit at the negotiating table away from what he termed "negative" foreign interference.
