On Tuesday, Turkish and Egyptian delegations began the second round of political consultations in the Turkish capital, Ankara. Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal and his Egyptian counterpart Hamdi Loza led the talks between the delegations.
A statement following the meeting indicated that bilateral matters were addressed during the first day of talks, while the delegations are expected to exchange views on regional matters on the second day of talks on Wednesday.
The statement also added: “The parties aim to advance and normalize relations on the basis of mutual benefit.”
A Turkish delegation, again headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal visited Cairo as per Egypt’s invitation on May 5-6. At the end of the visit, the two countries issued a joint statement describing the exploratory round of bilateral talks between them as “frank and in-depth.”
Both countries have recently shown positive signs in recent months, including through statements such as one made by Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on the possibility of the two countries negotiating to demarcate their maritime borders in the Eastern Mediterranean earlier in the day.
Turkish-Egyptian ties have continued at the level of charge d’affairs since 2013, with occasional meetings at the intelligence level. Though, economic relations have grown during this period, without being significantly impacted by the lack of political contact.
