The visit of the Minister of National Defense Nikos Dendias to Cairo was completed, where at the start of his contacts today, he was first received by the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, at Al-Ittihadiya Palace.
As stated in the official announcement of the Ministry of National Defense, Mr. Dendias conveyed to President El-Sisi the greetings of the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, underlining the breadth and long-standing nature of Greece's historical relations with Egypt and confirmed the country's will for coordination between the two states in addressing common challenges.
The meeting was also attended by the Minister of Defense and Military Production of the Arab Republic and Commander of the Armed Forces of Egypt, General Ashraf Salem Zaher, and the head of the Armaments Authority of the Armed Forces of Egypt, Major General Mohamed Adly Abdel Wahid Soliman.
Subsequently, Mr. Dendias participated in the trilateral meeting with the Minister of Defense and Military Production of the Arab Republic of Egypt, General Ashraf Salem Zaher, and the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Cyprus, Vasilis Palmas.
At the center of the discussions, as noted, was the further strengthening of cooperation between the Armed Forces of the three countries, joint exercises and training activities, operational interoperability, cooperation in the field of new technologies and defense innovation, as well as challenges in the security environment in the wider region.
The trilateral meeting was concluded with the signing of a Joint Declaration, while afterwards Mr. Dendias held successive bilateral meetings with his counterparts.
During the meeting with the Minister of Defense and Military Production of the Arab Republic of Egypt, the further strengthening of the strategic defense relationship between the two states and the security challenges in the Eastern Mediterranean and the wider region were discussed, while during the meeting with the Minister of Defense of the Republic of Cyprus, the further deepening of bilateral defense relations was discussed.
As noted, the Minister of National Defense was accompanied during his visit to Cairo by Greece's ambassador to Egypt Nikolaos Papageorgiou and the director of the D Branch of the Hellenic National Defense General Staff, Major General Ioannis Korres.
After the conclusion of the trilateral meeting, Mr. Dendias, in his statements, described Egypt as a strategic and indispensable ally for Greece and Cyprus.
As he stated, «I had the pleasure of working with the Cypriot Minister of Defense, Vasilis Palmas, and with my Egyptian counterpart, while this morning, before the trilateral meeting, I was received by the President of Egypt, General A. Fattah El-Sisi», declaring at the same time that he was extremely satisfied with the trilateral.
«It is yet another step in the deepening of Greek-Egyptian-Cypriot relations and comes as a continuation of the very successful, also trilateral summit-level meeting, a few days ago in El Alamein», Mr. Dendias stressed.
As regards the content of the trilateral, the Minister of National Defense referred «to the extremely clear and extensive joint communiqué» since, as he underlined, «it says everything».
Mr. Dendias continued with the observation that Egypt is a strategic and indispensable ally for Greece and for Cyprus. «We Greeks do not make our good relations with Egypt dependent on relations with any other state, nor do we consider our relations with Egypt as directed against any other state», Mr. Dendias clarified, making it clear that «these are relations which are analyzed and examined within the framework of mutual sincerity, the permanent and enduring perception of respect for International Law and the International Law of the Sea».
In this context, he referred to the agreement that has already been signed, among others, between Greece-Egypt, «with the foremost being the agreement on the Exclusive Economic Zone, which I had the honor to sign in my previous capacity as Minister of Foreign Affairs, with the Egyptian, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sameh Shoukry».
«A very successful meeting therefore, yet another step in Greek-Egyptian relations», Mr. Dendias concluded.
Earlier, the Minister of National Defense was received by the President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.
As Mr. Dendias stated on the social network X, «I presented to him the Greek perspective on the Eastern Mediterranean, our wider region». At the same time, as he noted, «I had the opportunity to present to him the effort to reform the Greek Armed Forces, as well as the thoughts on deepening the defense relations of the two countries». Finally, Nikos Dendias congratulated the President of Egypt on the level of the Egyptian Armed Forces, as presented in the exercise «Medusa».
SOURCE: ANA