Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi has affirmed the seriousness and strong will of the state towards fruitful cooperation with the Iraqi side in all fields, a statement by the presidency said on Saturday.

El-Sisi’s remarks came during his meeting with Khaled Battal, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister and Planning Minister, who is heading a high-level Iraqi ministerial delegation currently visiting Egypt. Saturday’s meeting witnessed the presence of a number of Egyptian ministers, officials and counterparts of the Iraqi ministerial delegation.

During the meeting, the statement said, El-Sisi stressed the importance of carefully following up on what was agreed upon, especially on an executive level to bypass the traditional administrative and bureaucratic framework in order to crystallize concrete outcomes.

The Official Spokesperson of the Egyptian Presidency Bassam Rady said that El-Sisi emphasised during the meeting the fundamentals of the Egyptian policy in support of Iraq and strengthening its Arab national role.

This Egyptian policy, El-Sisi added, supports everything that would fulfill Iraqi interests and help the state overcome all the challenges to maintain its security and stability.

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“Egypt is [also] keen to advance the frameworks for cooperation with Iraq, whether at the bilateral level or tripartite one with Jordan, in light of the strategic importance of this cooperation in the Arab world,” said El-Sisi.

From his side, Battal voiced Iraq's appreciation for the Egyptian efforts in support of the Iraqi issue at all levels, and expressed aspiration to strengthen cooperation frameworks with Egypt, whether on the bilateral level or within the framework of the tripartite cooperation mechanism with Jordan.

The Iraqi deputy prime minister expressed aspiration for enhancing cooperation to benefit from the inspiring Egyptian success and experience in the field of development projects and transfer them to Iraq, especially in the field of housing, infrastructure, electric power, agricultural sector, and health, as well as strengthening the fields of economic, commercial and investment cooperation, read the statement.

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Battal also hailed Egypt's role in support of Iraq, which represents strategic depth for his country on Arab, African and global levels, especially with regard to facing common challenges, foremost of which “is combating terrorism and achieving security, stability and development."

The Iraqi minister conveyed to El-Sisi the greetings of his two brothers, the Iraqi President Barham Salih and the Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, and at the end of the meeting, the president asked to convey his greetings to them.

Rady revealed that the meeting also witnessed the review and the two countries’ ministerial delegations of joint cooperation projects in all fields to invest the capabilities available in the two countries. As well as activating the implementation mechanisms of what was agreed upon in the joint Egyptian-Iraqi High Committee, as well as following up the implementation of projects emanating from the tripartite cooperation mechanism with Jordan.

https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/396728.aspx