Abdelatty invites Dar to undertake bilateral visit to Egypt

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty on Sunday invited Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar to visit his country, the Foreign Office (FO) said.

A statement issued by the FO said that the two held a telephone call in which they exchanged views on Egypt-Pakistan bilateral relations and regional and international developments.

Abdelatty invited Dar to “hold a bilateral visit to Egypt at his earliest convenience”, it added.

They also reaffirmed their commitment to remaining “engaged and involved” on regional security matters, agreeing to meet on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) this month.

Last November, the Egyptian foreign minister undertook an official two-day visit to Pakistan at DPM Dar’s invitation. During the visit, he met Chief of Defence Forces and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir at the General Headquarters in Rawalpindi, where the two discussed “defence and security cooperation, military exchanges, training collaborations and regional peace and stability”, FO said at the time.

He also called on President Asif Ali Zardari, delivering a message from the Egyptian president and expressing “Egypt’s keen interest in expanding its partnership with Pakistan in various fields”.

Additionally, he met DPM Dar and the two addressed a joint press conference. Dar said during the press conference that he and Abdelatty had had a “very, very focused discussion” on how their nations could contribute to elevating the business-to-business upscaling of the bilateral activities, which the deputy PM termed as “surely not commensurate”, with around $300 million.

“With the depth and the affection the two countries have, […] Pakistan will share with Egypt a comprehensive list of 250 Pakistani business houses representing key sectors of the economy,” Dar had announced. “These businesses will be facilitated and supported to enhance bilateral commercial engagement.”

In May, Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi and Minis­ter of State for Interior Tallal Chaudhry met an Eg­­yptian delegation led by Major General Magdy He­­lal in the federal capital. At the meeting, Pak­is­tan and Egypt ag­­reed to enhance cooperation between their interior ministries and launch joint training programmes for police officers.

Pakistan and Egypt are also members of a quadrilateral regional alliance known as the R-4 Group (Regional Four), an arrangement which also includes Saudi Arabia and Turkiye. The R-4 group has been focused on regional security and emerged in March amid efforts for mediation between the US and Iran.