Egypt affirmed its keenness to support the stability in Somalia in light of the agreement recently reached to hold parliamentary and presidential elections.
Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly received his Somali counterpart, Mohamed Roble, and discussed boosting cooperation between the two countries.
Roble chaired a delegation to Cairo, including several ministers, officials, and the Somali Ambassador to Cairo.
The Egyptian PM said he looks forward to working with Somali officials to push bilateral ties in various areas, especially at the economic and commercial levels.
Madbouly also commended the positive steps recently taken by Somalia to support these ties, topped by the appointment of a Somali ambassador in Cairo, resuming an Egyptian education mission to Somalia, and allocating a piece of land to establish an Egyptian embassy in Mogadishu, which now hosts a branch of Banque Misr.
He also emphasized Egypt’s commitment to preserving stability in Somalia, hailing the Somali premier’s efforts to achieve national conciliation and welcoming a recent agreement between political leaders in Somalia on a framework for the parliamentary and presidential elections.
For his part, the Somali Prime Minister said Egypt and Somalia are two brotherly countries with a long history of relations established on solid foundations, noting that Somalia has witnessed security and economic changes.
The Somali delegation’s visit to Egypt aims to discuss ways to activate the areas of cooperation, expressing his hope to increase mutual visits at the political and economic levels.
Roble called for activating the memorandums of understanding (MoU) between the two sides and expressed his hope to increase cooperation with Egypt in the field of education.
Somalia needs support in the health sector, including reoperating a large number of hospitals in different regions, supplying these hospitals with Egyptian doctors, establishing an Egyptian hospital in Somalia, and dispatching medical convoys.
He noted that his country enjoys many investment opportunities in livestock, fisheries, infrastructure, and agriculture.
The Somali prime minister praised the deeply-rooted ties between both countries, voicing hope for increasing exchanged visits at the economic and political levels and operating EgyptAir flights to the Somali capital to facilitate people and goods between both nations.
At the end of the session, Madbouly said that Egypt is now considering increasing the number of scholarships offered to Somali students to 400 scholarships on an annual basis.
Later, Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry conferred with the Somali Prime Minister on bilateral ties and issues of common interest. They addressed ways to boost the relations.
Also, Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Abul Gheit met with the Somali Prime Minister and discussed the latest developments in Somalia and efforts exerted by the government there to maintain security and stability.
They also discussed ways to settle some pending financial problems to expedite the legislative elections in the African country before holding the presidential polls in October.
Source: Cairo – Asharq Al-Awsat
