(Photo courtesy of Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy and foreign minister spokesman Badr Abdelatty travelled to Brussels Monday to take part in the fourth European Union-Africa summit, slated to take place the 31 March and 1 April.
Tuesday featured a discussion between Fahmy and members of the foreign relations committee of the European Parliament. Members of parliament made “a number of inquiries about the political developments in Egypt”, according to a statement released by the foreign ministry.
In response, the Egyptian foreign minister noted “the gravity of the challenges taking place in Egypt, particularly the security challenges related to terrorism” which, according to Fahmy, is “a common threat [that] affects the stability of the entire region”.
Nabil Fahmy met with a number of foreign ministers before the event started, including the foreign minister of Belgium and the Chadian foreign minister. They discussed “topics of mutual concern” in central Africa as well as the horn of Africa.
Fahmy also discussed security concerns in Syria, as well as Palestine and Ukraine.
Catherine Ashton had a brief meeting before the summit during which many of the same concerns were discussed. Fahmy and the EU special envoy also talked about “political, economic, financial and commercial” concerns as well as developments in the Renaissance dam project.
The theme of this summit is “Investing in People, Prosperity, and Peace”, and will cover topics “including peace, security, investment, climate change and migration”. Previous summits took place in Cairo (2000), Lisbon (2007) and Tripoli (2010).
In each of his meetings, Fahmy updated officials on the process of the Egyptian roadmap, put into place after Mohamed Morsi’s ouster on 3 July 2013 by former defence minister Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, who recently declared his intention to run for president.
Morsi’s ouster sparked a rise in armed attacks against security forces and army personnel within the volatile Sinai Peninsula and the Nile Delta region. A main point in Al-Sisi’s presidential platform is combating terrorism.
