Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides arrived in Cairo for an official visit on Wednesday. According to el-Sisi's office, Egyptian and Cypriot presidents first held a bilateral meeting, followed by talks between the two countries' delegations. Al-Sisi and Christodoulides agreed to establish a joint business council, the office said.
"Our meeting today was also a good opportunity to reaffirm our appreciation of the trilateral cooperation between Egypt, Cyprus and Greece. The trilateral cooperation mechanism between the countries is an example to be followed at all levels. We agreed on the importance of good preparations for the next trilateral cooperation mechanism summit, which Egypt is pleased to host this year," el-Sisi told a joint press conference with Christodoulides.
The Egyptian president also said that the sides discussed cooperation in the gas sector, including a project to interconnect power grids and transport Cypriot gas to two liquefaction plants in Egypt.
After the talks, Christodoulides said that Cyprus views relations with Egypt as a strategic partnership and intends to strengthen cooperation.
"Egypt is my second foreign visit after Greece; it is both symbolic and much more significant because it perfectly reflects our clear political will to further strengthen our cooperation, which we see as a strategic partnership between Egypt and Cyprus," he said.
The Cypriot president added that the sides were ready to develop cooperation in energy, security, commerce, investments, and tourism. Christodoulides also said that the parties agreed to hold the next intergovernmental meeting in Cyprus in September.