Egypt’s president in Turkey as relations between two countries thaw

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi began an official visit to Turkey Wednesday for meetings with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

It is the first official visit to Turkey by an Egyptian president in 12 years and comes amid a warming of relations between the two regional powers.

In February, Erdogan made his first visit to Egypt in more than a decade after the two countries agreed to mend ties and reappointed ambassadors.

Ties between Cairo and Ankara collapsed in 2013 after el-Sisi, who was then army chief, led the ouster of democratically elected Islamist President Mohamed Morsi amid mass protests against his divisive first year in power.

Morsi was a top figure in the Muslim Brotherhood organisation which has long been backed by Turkey.

In this second summit between el-Sisi and Erdogan since they began mending relations, they will reportedly sign around 20 agreements.

These are expected to focus on boosting cooperation on energy, defence, tourism, health, culture, and education.

They will also discuss global and regional issues, particularly Israel’s attacks on Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories.

Turkey has sent thousands of tonnes of aid to Egypt for Palestinians and has praised Cairo’s humanitarian efforts and role as negotiator in Gaza truce talks.

El-Sisi is being accompanied by a large delegation of officials and businessmen.

Erdogan has said that the two countries wanted to boost bilateral trade to $15 billion from the current $10 billion.