Somaliland: Egyptian Delegation Visits to Discuss Bilateral Relations
An Egyptian delegation led by the country’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs has paid a visit to Somaliland, aiming to improve bilateral relations between the two countries. The talks specifically focused on the Egyptian contribution to the socioeconomic development of Somaliland. The Egyptian visit, in the context of recent news [29 April 2019] about the possible establishment of diplomatic relations between Somaliland and Kenya, once more suggests the further recognition of Somaliland as an equal State.
Below is an article published by MENAFN:
His Excellency the President of the Republic of Somaliland, Musa Bihi Abdi, Tuesday [07 May 2019], received the ministerial delegation led by Al Sayyed Hamdi Sanad Loza, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, currently on a visit to Somaliland at his office.
The two sides, as was stated by a press statement the president's office posted, talked of strengthening bilateral relations which had been somewhat limping for some years past, and especially as Egypt seemed to revel in trumpeting its undivided support to Mogadishu.
The statement further revealed that His Excellency the President, Musa Bihi, expressed his gratitude to the Egyptian government and the nation, in general, for continuing to meaningfully contribute to educational development in Somaliland. Egypt sends and pays for teachers deployed at secondary schools around the country.
The two sides discussed how best to further promote social integration between the two countries, the development of trade links verging, on the most part, on the fisheries and livestock sectors, and, most importantly, cooperation between the two sides built on tangible historical and political realities that bound the two sides since the era of Queen Hebsetshut and the Pharaohs.
Since His Excellency the President of Egypt, Abdel Aziz Sisi assumed the Chairmanship of the African Union, the Egyptian foreign policy appears to have undergone a change of direction as regards to a visible thaw towards the Horn of Africa, including Somaliland.
Present on the Somaliland side at the meeting were, besides the President, were His Excellency the Vice President, Abdul Rahman Abdullahi Ismail ‘Zeil'i', the Somaliland Minister for Livestock and Fisheries, Hassan Mohamed Ali, Minister for Health, Omar Abdullahi Ali, and the Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (also the Acting Minister), Abdulkair Omar Jama.
Ambassador Mohamed Karim Sharif, Horn of Africa Advisor to the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Egyptian Ambassador to neighboring Somalia, Mohamed Nasr, were among Mr. Loza's delegation at the meeting.
Photo courtesy of Foreign and Commonwealth Office @Flickr
