Sisi's visit to Vienna boosts bilateral relations, African-European cooperation: FM

VIENNA,19 Dec 2018:Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry asserted on Wednesday that President Abdel Fattah El Sisi's visit to Austria will consolidate bilateral relations in political, economic and trade domains, describing the visit as "successful".

Egypt's top diplomat highlighted that Sisi's visit was much appreciated by Austria which is currently assuming the presidency of the European Union.

In statements to MENA, Shoukry said that the talks that President Sisi had with Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and Parliament Speaker Wolfgang Sobotka touched on fostering political coordination towards bilateral, regional and international issues of mutual concern.

Shoukry added that the talks took up increasing investments and illegal migration and counter terrorism files along with the Middle East issues.

The agreements that were signed after Sisi's talks with the Austria chancellor aimed at exploring new cooperation fields, Shoukry said, adding that both sides agreed on resuming the Egyptian-Austrian joint committee meetings.

Shoukry described Sisi's participation in the Africa-Europe High-Level Forum as "unique" in terms of reviewing Egypt's vision towards the African issues after assuming the presidency of the African Union and its capability of pushing forward integration and cooperation between the African and European countries.