Egypt's Army Chief of Staff Lt. General Mohamed Farid and Commander of US Central Command Gen. Kenneth McKenzie had an inspection tour on Sunday of different command centres to follow up the mechanisms of action of the multinational military exercise Bright Star.

This came following a meeting of Farid and McKenzie, who is currently paying an official visit to Egypt on the sidelines of the multinational military drill, a video statement by Egypt’s Armed Forces Spokesman Gharib Abdel-Hafez said.

The drill, which started on 2 September and is scheduled to last until 17 September, are being carried out at the Mohamed Naguib Military Base in the Northern Military Region, with the participation of 21 countries, including Egypt and the US.

Their meeting touched upon a number of topics related to the joint drill as being a good chance to exchange expertise between all participating parties.

The drill also is deemed a rich military environment to be learnt about military activities at the different departments, the statement added.

Farid expressed the Egyptian Armed Forces' keenness to follow up on all the daily activities of the exercise.

McKenzie lauded the resonance the drill has among all international military circles, voicing his admiration for the ability of the Egyptian Armed Forces to organise the joint drill, which he said was considered one of the most important and biggest in the Middle East, according to the statement.

Farid also met with all troops taking part in the joint drill, conveying the greetings and appreciation of Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Defence Minister Mohamed Zaki.

He also hailed the distinguished level of performance during the exercise, the statement appended.

The Bright Star exercise is held in Egypt on a regular basis. The first was in 1980, a year after the signing of the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.

The last time the Bright Star exercise was held was in 2018.