Egyptian FM to Visit Germany on Monday

January 8th, 2016

Awake Goy

nsnbc : Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will be visiting the German capital Berlin on Monday to meet his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier to discuss bilateral relations and international issues.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Youm7

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. Courtesy The Cairo Post & Youm7

Foreign Minister Sameh Shourky is scheduled to arrive in Berlin for a three-day visit on Monday, reports The Cairo Post, quoting Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abu Zeid.

Shoukry and Steinmeier will reportedly be discussing bilateral relations as well as regional and international issues with particular focus on global counter-terrorism efforts.

Egypt and Germany have long-standing and close political, economic and military relations. In mid-December 2015 Egypt received the first of two German manufactured Type-209/1400 attack submarines.

Considering other EU member States, Germany is one of those EU members whose Middle East policy is most compatible with that of Egypt. That is, Germany is in comparison to e.g. the UK or France one of the least bellicose countries with regard to finding a solution to the situation in Syria and Iraq.

Egypt’s and Germany’s policy with regard to refugees from Syria and Iraq is increasingly becoming compatible. The administration of Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi has been and continues to take in refugees from Syria. It does however, warn that the mass displacement of Syrians and Iraqis has a negative long-term impact on the regions’ demographics and that help for refugees should aim at ending the conflict and at facilitating the return of the displaced.

Germany has been taking in about one million refugees. German refugee policy is in part influenced by attempts not to invite criticism that could remind about Germany’s history during the 1930s and 40s.

However, the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel has in late 2015 reached an agreement with Turkey to stem the flow of refugees from Turkey to the European Union. Merkel and the German government is facing increased popular opposition against taking in a dis-proportionally large number of refugees who would be better served by ending the armed conflict in Syria and Iraq.

On December 114, 2015 Egyptian President Abdel Fatah Al-Sisi met with German Minister of Fiance Minister Gerd Müller who proposed the formation of a joint Egyptian – German committee that should be tasked with boosting bilateral economic relations in all fields.

F/AK – nsnbc 07.01.2016