Türkiye is making progress toward its goal of increasing trade volume with Egypt to $15 billion (TL 509.7 billion) within the next five years, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Wednesday as he hosted his Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in the capital of Ankara.
Speaking at a joint news conference with his visiting counterpart, who arrived in Türkiye on a landmark visit seen as the next chapter in enhancing ties, Erdoğan said the two countries reaffirmed their determination to advance cooperation in every area, including industry, defense, health, environment and energy.
“Trade and economic cooperation form the strongest dimension of our partnership,” Erdogan said. “Over the past 10 years, we have continued to be among Egypt’s top five trading partners. We are firmly advancing toward our goal of increasing our trade volume to $15 billion within the next five years.”
The president also highlighted the significant contributions of Turkish businesspeople to the Egyptian economy, with investments nearing $3 billion. He urged Turkish entrepreneurs to expand their investments further and to invite Egyptian investors to Türkiye.
Türkiye is willing to expand its cooperation with Egypt in energy, particularly natural gas and nuclear power, the president stressed.
“The brotherly Egyptian people take great interest in the Turkish culture and language. We continue our efforts to strengthen our cultural and social ties further. I believe the positive momentum in our relations will also be reflected in tourism.”
“We will enhance our multifaceted relations in a win-win manner,” he added.
Ministers from the two countries signed 18 memorandums of understanding on cooperation in various sectors, from energy, defense, tourism, health and agriculture to finance, culture, education and transport.
Recalling that next year, both countries will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic relations, Erdogan said: “We are two ancient countries that have been cradles to civilizations shaping human history. We continuously strengthen the deep and multifaceted relations between our countries through our joint efforts.”
He also said Türkiye and Egypt have a common stance on the Palestinian issue, adding that their contributions to regional peace and stability are “vital.”
Earlier, el-Sissi arrived on an official visit to Türkiye, his first since taking office, at the invitation of Erdoğan, who visited Cairo in February.
The media reports indicated Egypt could acquire drones from Türkiye, with Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan announcing earlier this year Ankara would provide Cairo with unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) and other technologies without further elaborating.
Türkiye and Egypt mutually reappointed ambassadors last year, and further momentum in ties has been observed this year.
Among areas of cooperation is agriculture as the two countries inked a memorandum of understanding to cooperate in growing and researching drought-resistant types of cereal crops and producing vegetable seeds and fruit saplings, in addition to climate issues, such as drought, global temperature rises, water scarcity and more.
At the same time, the Turkish transport and infrastructure minister said Thursday the number of reciprocal flights between Türkiye and Egypt will be more than doubled.
The frequency of flights between the two countries will jump from 30 a week to 67 under a new agreement signed between Turkish and Egyptian civil aviation authorities, Abdulkadir Uraloğlu said in a written statement.
At a Wednesday meeting of the countries’ High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council Meeting co-chaired by Erdoğan and el-Sissi, three deals were sealed in railways, information communications technologies and civil aviation.
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar also provided information on energy deals signed, in a post on X.
“In the presence of our President Erdoğan and President of Egypt Mr. Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, we signed a ‘Memorandum of Understanding on Energy’ with Egyptian Foreign Minister BedrAbdulati.”
“With this agreement, we will strengthen energy cooperation between the two countries and develop joint projects on electricity infrastructure and trade, renewable energy, energy efficiency, hydrogen and nuclear energy. I hope that the agreement will be beneficial for both countries,” he said.
The visit on Wednesday was the first presidential-level Egyptian visit to Türkiye in a decade, part of continuing efforts to strengthen ties between the Mediterranean neighbors.
