Egypt welcomes gas discoveries in eastern Mediterranean

Egypt’s foreign minister says hydrocarbon finds in the eastern Mediterranean have bolstered an already “strong partnership” with Cyprus.

On Wednesday, Sameh Shoukry said Egypt looks forward to working with Cyprus to fully exploit energy reserves.

“My meetings with the Minister have become particularly important given the turbulent situation in our region. We had in-depth discussions on ongoing developments in the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean”, he said.

He also said a trilateral partnership between Egypt, Cyprus and Greece serves as a strategic asset for the stability of the region.

“We discussed trilateral cooperation between Egypt, Cyprus and Greece, which serves as an important catalyst for stability and prosperity in the region. Egypt looks forward to convening the seventh summit of the trilateral mechanism in Cairo later this year to take stock of the achievements of previous summits and to discuss ways to strengthen the strength of our trilateral partnership’‘, Shoukry added.

The new discoveries are attracting the interest of several other countries like Turkey and Israel.

But Cyprus, a member of the European Union, would continue to argue for stronger EU-Egypt ties to effectively address regional challenges.

“I reiterated our position that EU-Egypt cooperation is crucial in our efforts to successfully address the common challenges in our region. Cyprus will continue to actively advocate for the strengthening of these relations through a holistic approach focusing on the entire spectrum of our cooperation. In this, Cyprus fully recognizes and appreciates Egypt’s challenges, both internally and externally”, Cyprus Foreign Minister, Nikos Christodoulides said.

AP