The Minister of National Defence, Nikos Dendias, conducted a visit to Cairo, where, during the commencement of contacts, was initially received by His Excellency the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, at the Al-Ittihadiya Palace.

Mr Dendias conveyed to the President El–Sisi the greetings of the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, underlined the extent and longstanding nature of the historic relations between Greece and Egypt and confirmed our country’s volition for the two states’ coordination in countering common challenges.

The Minister of Defence and Military Production of the Arab Republic and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Egypt, General Ashraf Salem Zaher and the Head of the Armament Authority of the Armed Forces of Egypt, Major General Mohamed Adly Abdel Wahid Soliman also attended the meeting.

Subsequently, Mr Dendias participated in the Trilateral Meeting with the Minister of Defence and Military Production of the Arab Republic of Egypt, General Ashraf Salem Zaher and the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Cyprus, Vasilis Palmas.

The focus of the talks were the further enhancement 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 defence innovation, as well as challenges at the security environment in the wider region.

The Trilateral Meeting was concluded with the signing of a Joint Statement.

After the conclusion of the Trilateral Meeting, the Greek Minister stated the following:

“The Trilateral Meeting between Egypt, Cyprus and Greece at the level of Ministers of National Defence concluded a short while ago.

It was a pleasure to work with the Cypriot Minister, Vasilis Palmas, and my Egyptian counterpart.

Earlier this morning, prior to the trilateral meeting, I was received by the President of Egypt, General Fattah El-Sisi.

I would like to say that I am extremely satisfied with the trilateral meeting. It represents another step forward in deepening Greek-Egyptian-Cypriot relations and follows the highly successful trilateral summit held just a few days ago in El Alamein.

As for the substance of this trilateral meeting, I would like to refer you to the extremely clear and comprehensive joint statement. I believe it speaks for itself.

I conclude with the following observation: Egypt is a strategic and essential ally for Greece and Cyprus. We Greeks do not make our good relations with Egypt contingent upon our relations with any other state, nor do we view our relations with Egypt as being directed against any other state. These are relations analysed and examined within a framework of mutual sincerity and an abiding, consistent commitment to respect for International Law and the International Law of the Sea, as well as within the context of agreements we have already signed with Egypt, foremost among them the agreement on the Exclusive Economic Zone, which I had the honour of signing in my previous capacity as Foreign Minister with the then-Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry. A very successful meeting, another step forward in Greek-Egyptian relations”.

Subsequently, Mr Dendias conducted successive bilateral meetings with his counterparts.

During the Meeting with the Minister of Defence and Military Production of the Arab Republic of Egypt, the further enhancement of the two states’ strategic defence relation and the security challenges in the Eastern Mediterranean and the wider region were discussed, while during the meeting with the Defence Minister of the Republic of Cyprus, the further deepening of bilateral defence relations was discussed.

The Minister of National Defence, during the visit to Cairo, was accompanied by the Greek Ambassador in Egypt Nikolaos Papageorgiou and the Director of HNDGS/D’ Branch, Major General Ioannis Korres.