Turkey and Egypt have been taking steps to improve ties and ambassadors will be mutually appointed when the time is right, Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said Thursday.

Addressing reporters after a NATO foreign ministers meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Çavuşoğlu touched upon the normalization process with Egypt.

He denied recent claims that an ambassador was appointed to Egypt, and said a new charge d'affaires will replace the existing one, whose term in office has expired.

Ankara and Cairo are taking positive steps and ambassadors will be reciprocally appointed when the time is right, he added.

Turkey has been engaged in an effort to mend its frayed ties with regional powers, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had reiterated that Turkey hopes to maximize its cooperation with Egypt and Gulf nations "on a win-win basis," at a time when Ankara intensified diplomacy to mend its fraught ties with Cairo and some Gulf Arab nations after years of tensions.