Speech by President El-Sisi during the Joint Press Conference with the Greek Prime Minister

In the Name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful,

Your Excellency, Mr. Kyriakos Mitsotakis,

The Prime Minister of the Hellenic Republic,

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you today as an honorable guest to the Arab Republic of Egypt. Your official visit comes within the framework of our keenness to continue exchanging views on ways to develop and deepen bilateral cooperation between the two brotherly countries in various fields as well as to discuss regional and international issues of mutual interest.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

As you know, Egypt and Greece share distinguished bonds of friendship deeply rooted in history. In fact, the communication between the Pharaonic and Greek civilizations began about three thousand years ago. Hence, a unique contribution to the development of human civilization was made throughout the ages.

The past years have witnessed a remarkable growth in the bilateral cooperation and joint coordination on many topics and issues at various political, economic and military levels. These issues were tackled whether at the bilateral level or within the framework of the tripartite cooperation mechanism between Egypt, Cyprus, and Greece. As a result, this unique cooperation is held up as a model to be emulated in achieving cooperation and integration at the regional level.

His Excellency the Greek Prime Minister and I discussed the various aspects of our bilateral cooperation and hence we agreed on the importance of achieving a qualitative leap in all aspects of the relationship between our two countries. These aspects especially include boosting bilateral trade, promoting the flow of Greek investments, and enhancing cooperation in the energy sector whether in the electricity interconnection projects or in the field of natural gas. In addition, we agreed to develop tourism cooperation since both our countries have accumulated experience in this important sector. Egypt and Greece would also be working on resuming the movement of cruise ships between our ports at the earliest opportunity.

Today’s meeting was an important opportunity to exchange views and coordinate positions on regional issues of mutual interest. In this respect, I affirmed to His Excellency the Prime Minister Egypt’s firm position on the situation in the Eastern Mediterranean, which is based on the necessity for all countries to respect the international law and the Charter of the United Nations, particularly the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs and respect for the sovereignty and territorial waters of countries. I stress our solidarity with Greece against any practices that would violate its sovereignty.

In this context, consensus was reached with the Prime Minister on the importance of strengthening the existing tripartite cooperation between Egypt, Cyprus, and Greece to continue political coordination and technical cooperation between the three countries. The importance of achieving the maximum benefit from this mechanism was also emphasized since it brings together our three countries especially by virtue of the unique relations and convergence of mutual interests toward achieving security and stability in the region.

The talks discussed the latest developments in the Palestinian question. The Greek Prime Minister stressed the need for concerted, joint international efforts to provide the necessary support to the Gaza Strip, which has been severely affected by the recent Israeli attacks. In this context, Egypt took the initiative to reconstruct the Gaza Strip in full coordination with the Palestinian Authority and worked on making the Palestinian and Israeli parties return once again to the negotiation table in order to reach a final settlement in accordance with the resolutions of the international legitimacy.

We also discussed the latest developments in the Libyan issue and agreed to support our Libyan brothers to hold the elections as scheduled by the end of this year and to help them overcome any obstacles that might prevent the elections from taking place as scheduled.

We also stressed that all foreign forces and mercenaries must leave the Libyan territories without procrastination and that armed militias be dismantled, thus ensuring that Libya and its sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence would be restored to its people.

I also informed the Prime Minister about the results of the tripartite negotiations on the “Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam” file. I stressed the importance of reaching a legally binding agreement for the filling and operation of the GERD rapidly. I also stressed the need for the international community’s serious role in this file in order to preserve the stability of the region.

Your Excellency, Mr. Prime Minister,

I welcome you again in Cairo, and I look forward to witnessing more cooperation and coordination between the two countries in the coming period to achieve prosperity for our two friendly peoples.

Thank you.