The President of the UAE Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan is currently on his first official visit to Egypt since assuming his country's presidency last May.

The Emirati leader held a summit in New Alamein city with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi on Sunday to discuss bilateral cooperation as well as a host of regional and international issues.

The two leaders also agreed during the summit on the importance of bolstering Arab joint efforts to confront common challenges facing the Arab World.

Growing inter-Arab economic integration  

The five-way Arab summit in New Alamein comes as the five Arab countries intesify efforts to bolster economic integration among them.

In June, Egypt, the UAE and Jordan launched the Integrated Industrial Partnership Initiative for sustainable economic development in Abu Dhabi.

The partnership focuses on major economic sectors, the most important of which are food security, fertilisers, and pharmaceutical products.

As part of the initiative, the UAE announced the allocation of an investment fund of $10 billion for joint projects with Egypt and Jordan by the Abu Dhabi Development Holding (ADQ) to support and accelerate ensuing projects.

Meanwhile, Egypt, Iraq and Jordan have intensified their trilateral collaboration over the past few years to enhance strategic relations between the three countries.

Egypt, Jordan and Iraq have expanded their trilateral cooperation mechanism that was launched in 2019 in several fields, including energy, industry, agriculture, transport, food security, infrastructure and investment.

In June, Egypt, Jordan and Iraq announced that they were close to completing a power linkage project between the electricity grids of the three countries as well as setting up an industrial city on the Iraqi-Jordanian border.

By the beginning of 2023, Jordan is expected to supply Iraq with electricity after the required infrastructure is completed, Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said at the time in a joint press conference with his Egyptian and Iraqi counterparts in Baghdad.

Egypt, which lies more than 800 miles away from Iraq, also plans to deliver electricity to Iraq via Jordan by linking the three countries' power grids.

“The project will bring power to Iraq from Egypt and Jordan and will enable expanding industrial activity [in Iraq],” Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said during the presser in Baghdad.

The Jordanian FM Safadi also announced during the presser that the three countries have completed around 90 percent of the preparations required to launch the new industrial city.

In July, Bahrain joined the Integrated Industrial Partnership Initiative with Egypt, the UAE, and Jordan.

So far, 12 projects worth $3.4 billion have been identified by the four countries in the first phase of the $10 billion initiative signed in May. The next stage will focus on the metals, chemicals, plastics, and textiles industries.

As part of the expanded partnership, the private sector is to implement 87 projects for livestock, fertiliser production, and pharmaceuticals.

Meanwhile, President El-Sisi and Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa witnessed in June the signing of several agreements and memorandum of understandings (MoUs) between Egypt and Bahrain in Manama in various domains, including of science, technology, education, and logistics, according to a presidential statement.

Also in June, Egypt, Bahrain, and Jordan agreed in a summit held in Sharm El-Sheikh on the importance of strengthening ties between the three nations to “the highest levels”, especially amid the international and regional challenges.

During the summit, El-Sisi said Egypt aspires to further cooperation with Bahrain and Jordan to achieve the common interests of the peoples of the three nations as well as boost joint Arab action, particularly amid great challenges of multiple regional and international developments.

The Bahraini and Jordanian kings praised "the inextricable" ties binding the three countries, stressing their keenness to elevate cooperation with Egypt to the level of strategic partnership.

Furthermore, the kings added that they seek maximising benefits of opportunities and potentials of cooperation relations with Egypt.

King Hamad and King Abdullah also said that relations between the three countries "represent a cornerstone for maintaining regional security and stability as well as restoring balance to the region, in light of the pivotal importance of Egypt, Bahrain, and Jordan regionally and internationally."