Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry returned to the country on Friday, arriving from Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa, after attending meetings for the African Union (AU) Commission. He followed up the meetings with a visit to Eritrea.

Shoukry was in Addis Ababa for a ministerial retreat on 12 and 13 September, where the participating members discussed the monetary and administrative review processes of the commission for 2016 and 2017.

His later visit to Eritreat's capital of Asmara was undertaken with the intent to discuss means of boosting bilateral relations between the two nation-states, according to Egyptian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid.

Abu Zeid highlighted that the Egyptian foreign minister delivered a message from President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi to his Eritrean counterpart, President Isaias Afwerki, on strengthening bilateral relations across all domains.