ANKARA (Anadolu/MEMO) – Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday met with his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah el-Sisi in India for talks after a decade.
The closed-door meeting came on the sidelines of the final day of the G-20 summit in the capital New Delhi.
“The meeting addressed bilateral relations between Turkey and Egypt, efforts to increase trade volume, new cooperation in the field of energy and regional and global issues,” Turkey’s Communications Directorate said on X.
Pointing out that relations have entered a “new era” with the mutual appointments of ambassadors, Erdogan expressed his belief that bilateral relations will reach the level they deserve “as soon as possible.”
Emphasizing that the Egyptian administration’s support to Turkish investors and companies is essential, Erdogan underlined that they attach importance to reviving cooperation in the fields of LNG, nuclear energy, culture and education, according to the directorate.
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin, Communications Director Fahrettin Altun, Erdogan’s chief advisers Akif Cagatay Kilic, and Sefer Turan were also present at the meeting.
Although Cairo is not a member of the G-20, term president India had invited the leaders of Bangladesh, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Egypt, Mauritius, Oman, Singapore, Spain, and the United Arab Emirates to attend the summit.
This July, Turkey and Egypt raised their diplomatic ties and appointed ambassadors.
Ties between the two countries had been at the level of charges d’affaires since 2013.
El-Sisi was among the leaders who called Erdogan after the devastating Feb. 6 earthquakes in southern Turkey, offering his condolences.
Ties between Egypt and Turkey have been strained since Egypt’s army, led by Sisi, ousted Muslim Brotherhood President Mohammed Morsi, a close ally of Erdogan, in 2013.
Cairo designates the Muslim Brotherhood as terrorist organization. Erdogan’s AK Party supported Morsi’s short-lived Egyptian government. Many Brotherhood members and their supporters have fled to Turkey since the group’s activities were banned in Egypt.
The two countries also clashed over maritime jurisdiction and offshore resources, as well as differences in Libya, where they backed opposing sides in the civil war.
After trading insults and accusations for years, Ankara and Cairo started softening their public rhetoric towards one another in 2021.
Erdogan and Sisi agreed on the immediate start of upgrading diplomatic relations and to exchange ambassadors in May.