Shoukry starts visit to Brussels, Geneva on Sunday

CAIRO - 24 February 2018: Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will start on Sunday a short trip to Brussels and Geneva, foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said in a statement on Saturday.

Shoukry will on Monday take part in a meeting bringing together the foreign ministers of the Six-Party Arab Committee on Jerusalem and their EU counterparts at the EU headquarters in Brussels.

The Egyptian top diplomat is then scheduled to visit Geneva to deliver Egypt’s speech at the UN Human Rights Council and the UN-sponsored Conference on Disarmament.

The meeting of the Six-Party Arab Committee on Jerusalem is complementary to the committee’s efforts to contact and coordinate with the international parties to address the repercussions of the US decision to move its embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, the spokesmen said.

The efforts made by the committee also aim to probe means of reviving the Palestinian-Israel peace negotiations, he added.

Abu Zeid noted that the Arab move comes in line with the recent efforts exerted by the European Commission and a number of EU countries in support of the Palestinian cause, topped by the extraordinary session of the international donor group for Palestine - the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) - which was held in Brussels in January.

Meanwhile, the spokesman asserted that Shoukry’s participation in the meetings of the UN Human Rights Council is of special importance in light of Egypt’s membership in the Human Rights Council.

The visit also comes within the framework of Cairo’s keenness to review its efforts to maintain human rights and to implement the relevant articles in the Egyptian constitution.