President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Sunday met on the sidelines of the G-20 leaders summit in the Indian capital, New Delhi, and discussed bilateral issues as well as energy cooperation.
“Türkiye-Egypt relations, increasing the trade volume, new cooperation in the field of energy and regional as well as global issues were discussed at the meeting,” the Turkish Presidency said in a written statement.
Erdoğan pointed out that the two countries entered a new period by appointing mutual ambassadors and said that ties would reach the level they deserved in a short period.
Emphasizing that the Egyptian administration’s support to Turkish investors and companies is important, Erdoğan underlined that they attach importance to reviving cooperation in liquefied natural gas (LNG), nuclear energy, culture and education.
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 (UAE) to attend the summit.
This July, Türkiye and Egypt raised their diplomatic ties and appointed ambassadors.
Normalization between the two accelerated after el-Sissi and Erdoğan shook hands in Doha at the World Cup in 2022 and began to take off following the deadly February earthquakes in Türkiye and Erdoğan’s reelection in May.
Diplomatic relations between Türkiye and Egypt have been maintained at the level of charge d’affaires on both sides since Egypt’s 2013 military coup, which overthrew the late President Mohammed Morsi.
Relations have mainly been stable except for short periods of suspension in the 1960s, but they reached new heights when Morsi was elected president in 2012. After Morsi was toppled, Türkiye maintained contact with Cairo before downgrading diplomatic relations in 2013, while economic ties remained largely unharmed. In 2022, Türkiye was the largest importer of Egyptian goods, totaling $4 billion. Earlier this year, Cairo allowed Turkish citizens to obtain a visa on arrival, paving the way for advanced tourism.
Cairo and Ankara have also been at odds over Libya, where they backed opposing factions in an unresolved conflict, and also over maritime borders in the gas-rich Eastern Mediterranean. However, Türkiye has dismissed claims of rivalry with Egypt in the region and reiterated willingness for more cooperation.
