On Monday, 12 November 2012 – following his meetings in Bulgaria – Foreign Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos will travel to Egypt to participate in a meeting of EU and Arab League Foreign Ministers, and a meeting of the EU-Egypt Action Group.
Mr. Avramopoulos’s second visit to Egypt in as many months underscores the firm ties of friendship and cooperation that link Greece and Egypt, and the high level of Greek-Egyptian bilateral relations, which is to be reaffirmed during Mr. Avramopoulos’s meeting with his Egyptian counterpart M. Kamel Amr.
Over the past two years, in light of the major political developments in the Arab world, Greece has worked consistently to strengthen the EU’s relations with the Arab League, and with Egypt in particular.
In this direction, in a follow-up to his relevant remarks to the October EU Foreign Affairs Council, Mr. Avramopoulos sent a letter to EU High Representative Ashton, Arab League Secretary General Nabil Elaraby, and his European colleagues presenting the Greek proposal for strengthening institutional cooperation between the EU and the Arab League on the level of political consultations and on targeted cooperation in sectors vital to the Arab countries, such as investments, trade and tourism.
The meeting will also look at critical developments in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East, as well as the situation in Syria.
Mr. Avramopoulos will take the opportunity of his visit to Egypt to meet in Alexandria with Patriarch of Alexandria Theodoros, and to meet with representatives of the Greek Community of Alexandria and Cairo. At these latter meetings, Mr. Avramopoulos will be accompanied by the Deputy Minister responsible for global Hellenism issues, Kostas Tsiaras.
November 10, 2012