CAIRO, Jan 18 (MENA) – Minister of Foreign Affairs, Emigration and Egyptian Expatriates Badr Abdelatty asserted that Egypt cherishes its historical and fraternal bonds with Senegal, highlighting that both countries see eye to eye on a wide range of regional and international issues.

This came on Saturday during Abdelatty’s meeting with Senegalese Minister of African Integration and Foreign Affairs Yassine Fall, with Minister of Planning, Economic Development and International Cooperation Rania el Mashat in attendance.

Abdelatty lauded the close coordination between Egypt and Senegal at international and regional forums and gatherings to defend the causes and interests of the African continent, Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Tamim Khallaf said.

This year will mark 65 years since the establishment if Egyptian-Senegalese diplomatic relations, the top diplomat said, noting that Egypt was the first country, after France, to recognize Senegal's independence in 1960. Underlining the importance of building on the momentum in the bilateral relations, he said that this should serve as a driving force to strengthen existing frameworks of cooperation and explore new horizons for collaboration.

Both sides discussed promoting the partnership between the private sector in the two countries, the spokesman said, pointing out that the talks took up the role of Egyptian companies in implementing infrastructure projects and benefiting from the Egyptian expertise in the fields of building new cities, urban development and irrigation and land reclamation projects in addition to building factories and localizing some industries.

They meeting tackled establishing an economic zone near Ndayane port and expanding Port of Dakar to transform it into a logistics center in addition to opening a shipping route between both countries to facilitate trade exchange and the transfer of goods, Khallaf said.

The ministers also exchanged views on the situation in the Sahel region and Western Africa, the latest developments in the Horn of Africa, the current conditions in Somalia and Sudan and the Egyptian water security issue, according to him.

They discussed as well the latest developments in Gaza, Syria and Libya and means to boost joint African action and African integration, he added. (MENA)

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