Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry discussed the latest developments in the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD) issue and the Palestinian territories with Luxembourg’s Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn in Cairo, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

In a press conference held following their talks, Shoukry said that they also discussed developments in Libya.

Aside from regional developments, the top diplomats discussed ways to boost bilateral relations between Egypt and Luxembourg, especially economic cooperation between the two countries.

During the press conference, the foreign minister expressed his appreciation for Luxembourg’s support of Egypt.

From his side, Luxembourg Minister Jean Asselborn said that the relations between the two countries are strong and that they agreed to boost economic relations between them through Luxembourgish companies.

He added that Luxembourg was working to prepare agreements to boost economic cooperation, revealing that efforts are under way to sign an agreement on avoiding double taxation, and that this would boost trade cooperation between the two sides.

Concerning the human rights issues, he said he did not come to Egypt to give lessons about human rights, yet he encouraged more countries to respect them.

Asselbon commented on GERD issue in the press conference, saying that he hoped that the international community would find a solution to this problem.

The Luxembourg FM stated his country understood the Egyptian perspective, but that it could not prod Ethiopia into doing anything. “Luxembourg is trying to contribute to the solution,” he said.

Praising Egypt’s efforts to reach and maintain a ceasefire deal between the Palestinian factions and Israel, Asselborn regretted the European Union’s failure to reach a consensus to facillitate a ceasefire deal.

He said the EU spent years focusing on the Iranian and Saudi files and neglected the Palestinian-Israeli file.

Noting that establishing a Palestinian state is not a threat to Israel, Luxembourg's top diplomat wished the new Israeli government would choose peace.