A 21-gun salute was fired in honour of Erdoğan and his wife, Emine Erdoğan, who are on an official visit to Egypt at the head of a high-level delegation.
An official reception ceremony was held, during which the national anthems of Egypt and Türkiye were played, and the two presidents reviewed the guard of honour.
The talks are expected to focus on ways to strengthen cooperation across areas of mutual interest, alongside an exchange of views on current regional and international issues.
The two leaders will also co-chair the second meeting of the Egypt–Türkiye High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council.
Later in the day, El-Sisi and Erdoğan are scheduled to attend the closing session of the Egyptian–Turkish Business Forum, with broad participation from business communities and financial and economic institutions from both countries.
Earlier, a presidential statement said the two leaders will hold official talks before jointly chairing the second meeting of the Egypt–Turkey High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council, a key institutional framework guiding bilateral relations.
El-Sisi and Erdoğan last met in September 2025 in Doha on the sidelines of an emergency Arab-Islamic summit, where they held bilateral talks on regional issues, including the war in Gaza.
The meeting comes after a series of high-level contacts following the formal restoration of relations between Cairo and Ankara, ending more than a decade of strained ties.
Relations between the two countries began to improve in 2021 after years of tension, as both sides sought to reassess regional priorities and reopen diplomatic channels.
The improvement gained pace with the full restoration of diplomatic relations and the exchange of ambassadors in 2023. This was followed by Erdoğan’s visit to Cairo in February 2024, his first in more than a decade, during which Egypt and Turkey agreed to establish the High-Level Strategic Cooperation Council to coordinate political, economic, and security cooperation.
El-Sisi later paid a reciprocal visit to Ankara in September 2024, during which the council convened for the first time, and multiple cooperation agreements were signed.
Economic ties between Egypt and Turkey have remained resilient despite years of political tension, with bilateral trade steadily expanding and positioning Turkey as one of Egypt’s largest non-Arab trading partners.
Trade between the two countries has exceeded $8 billion a year in recent years, supported by Turkish investments in Egypt’s textiles, ready-made garments, home appliances, chemicals, and construction sectors. Egyptian exports to Turkey include energy products, agricultural goods, and industrial inputs.
Both governments have set a target of raising bilateral trade to $15 billion, a goal repeatedly emphasized by senior officials as relations continue to normalize.
Officials from both sides say the target could be reached by expanding Turkish manufacturing investments in Egypt, increasing joint industrial zones, improving logistics and shipping links, and encouraging greater private-sector involvement, with economic cooperation now a central focus of the renewed partnership.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty also visited Ankara on 12 November as part of the ongoing engagement between the two countries following the restoration of diplomatic relations.
The visit coincided with the first meeting of the Turkey–Egypt Joint Planning Group, a newly established mechanism aimed at improving coordination between the two foreign ministries and preparing the ground for wider cooperation in political, economic, security, and cultural fields.
In talks with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan, Abdelatty discussed strengthening bilateral relations and coordination on regional issues, including Gaza and wider developments in the Middle East.
The visit also included a joint press conference and meetings with senior Turkish officials, during which both sides stressed the importance of maintaining the current momentum in relations.
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