“On behalf of the government and people of the Arab Republic of Egypt, I have the pleasure to extend congratulations to Mr. Nikos Christodoulides on his election as the president of the Republic of Cyprus and his winning of the confidence of Cypriot voters,” El-Sisi said in a post on Monday on the Facebook page of the Spokesperson of the Egyptian Presidency Ahmed Fahmy.

The 49-year-old former Cypriot foreign minister won tight run-off presidential elections on Sunday by 51.9 percent of the votes against 48.1 percent for his rival, diplomat Andreas Mavroyiannis.

In his message, El-Sisi praised the Egyptian-Cypriot relations as “historical,” saying he looks forward to continuing the “active and high-level coordination and consultation” with the new Cypriot leadership on further enhancement of the two countries’ partnership.

“The Egyptian-Cypriot relations have always been and will remain extended and historical that are based on a solid foundation of cross-cultural cooperation, rich human exchanges and the high values that bring us together,” El-Sisi said.

He also praised the Egyptian-Cypriot relations as based on the “mutual strategic interests by virtue of the geographical proximity and on continuous cooperation to face the joint challenges and achieve stability, security and prosperity to our regional neighbourhood.”

At the end of his message, El-Sisi expressed “deep appreciation” for outgoing President Nicos Anastasiades on his pivotal role over the years as president in “strengthening and developing the bonds of Egyptian-Cypriot friendship, wishing him all success in the future.”

Egypt-Cyprus: Closer cooperation

Over the past several years, Egypt and Cyprus have developed closer bilateral cooperation – especially in the political, energy, economic and military fields – as well as trilateral cooperation with the inclusion of Greece.

Since November 2014, the leaders of the three countries have held nine summits to boost their trilateral cooperation in several fields and coordinate on regional issues of mutual concern, the last of which was in Athens in October 2021.

In October 2021,  Egypt signed an accord with Cyprus on electrical power linkage between the two countries’ electrical grid at a capacity of 2,000-3,000 MW.

In the same month,  Egypt also signed a trilateral agreement with both Cyprus and Greece on power linkage.

Egypt and Cyprus are members of the EastMed Gas Forum (EMGF), a Cairo-based international organisation that aims to establish a regional gas market in the Eastern Mediterranean and enhance trade relations among the member states.

Egypt and Cyprus shared a trade volume of $66 million in 2021, according to figures released by the Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Cypriot investments in Egypt has reached $358 million in the same year across 191 projects in the sectors of services, industry, constructions, communication and information technology, tourism and agriculture, according to ministry figures.

Egypt and Cyprus have also maintained coordination on regional issues of mutual concern and in the fields of combatting terrorism, extremism and irregular migration.