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How Does Erdogan’s Visit to Cairo Contribute to Developing Relations with Egypt?

Sisi and Erdogan meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. (dpa)
Sisi and Erdogan meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. (dpa)
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How Does Erdogan’s Visit to Cairo Contribute to Developing Relations with Egypt?

Sisi and Erdogan meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. (dpa)
Sisi and Erdogan meet on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. (dpa)

- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to arrive in Cairo on Wednesday to meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

The one-day visit is the first of its kind in more than 11 years and is seen as the beginning of a new page in relations between the two countries following a period of tensions.

The Cairo talks, according to a statement by the Turkish presidency, focus on “possible steps to be taken within the framework of developing relations between Turkiye and Egypt and activating high-level bilateral cooperation mechanisms.”

The two leaders will also exchange views “on current global and regional issues, especially the Israeli attacks on Gaza and the occupied Palestinian territories,” the statement added.

The two countries have appointed ambassadors in July to restore their relations, after a diplomatic rupture that lasted for years against the backdrop of Ankara’s support for the Brotherhood organization, which is banned in Egypt, following the revolt of June 30, 2013.

Sisi and Erdogan shook hands during the opening of the World Cup in Qatar at the end of 2022. They later held a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in September.

The visit comes at a crucial stage in the region, according to the head of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, Mohamed Al-Arabi, who told Asharq Al-Awsat that it is an important turn in the course of relations between the two countries after the long hiatus.

Turkish political analyst Jawad Gok noted that the visit is consistent with the radical changes in Ankara’s policy in recent years, which strengthens the Turkish-Arab partnership while adhering to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries.

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In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Gok said that Erdogan’s trip to Cairo enjoys support from various political movements and media outlets, even those opposed to the president’s policies.

Karam Saeed, expert on Turkish affairs at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said the visit is part of the approach of circumventing controversial issues and taking relations to a “strategic level.”

He added that Cairo will support the strengthening of Turkish investments in the country, while Ankara has an opportunity to benefit from the Egyptian role in gas projects in the Eastern Mediterranean, or to expand its presence in Africa, in addition to cooperation in the field of defense and military industries in a way that serves the interests of the two countries.

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Climate Change Imperils Drought-Stricken Morocco’s Cereal Farmers and Its Food Supply

A farmer works in a wheat field on the outskirts of Kenitra, Morocco, Friday, June 21, 2024. (AP)
A farmer works in a wheat field on the outskirts of Kenitra, Morocco, Friday, June 21, 2024. (AP)
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Climate Change Imperils Drought-Stricken Morocco’s Cereal Farmers and Its Food Supply

A farmer works in a wheat field on the outskirts of Kenitra, Morocco, Friday, June 21, 2024. (AP)
A farmer works in a wheat field on the outskirts of Kenitra, Morocco, Friday, June 21, 2024. (AP)

Golden fields of wheat no longer produce the bounty they once did in Morocco. A six-year drought has imperiled the country's entire agriculture sector, including farmers who grow cereals and grains used to feed humans and livestock.

The North African nation projects this year's harvest will be smaller than last year in both volume and acreage, putting farmers out of work and requiring more imports and government subsidies to prevent the price of staples like flour from rising for everyday consumers.

"In the past, we used to have a bounty — a lot of wheat. But during the last seven or eight years, the harvest has been very low because of the drought," said Al Housni Belhoussni, a small-scale farmer who has long tilled fields outside of the city of Kenitra.

Belhoussni's plight is familiar to grain farmers throughout the world confronting a hotter and drier future. Climate change is imperiling the food supply and shrinking the annual yields of cereals that dominate diets around the world — wheat, rice, maize and barley.

In North Africa, among the regions thought of as most vulnerable to climate change, delays to annual rains and inconsistent weather patterns have pushed the growing season later in the year and made planning difficult for farmers.

In Morocco, where cereals account for most of the farmed land and agriculture employs the majority of workers in rural regions, the drought is wreaking havoc and touching off major changes that will transform the makeup of the economy. It has forced some to leave their fields fallow. It has also made the areas they do elect to cultivate less productive, producing far fewer sacks of wheat to sell than they once did.

In response, the government has announced restrictions on water use in urban areas — including on public baths and car washes — and in rural ones, where water going to farms has been rationed.

"The late rains during the autumn season affected the agriculture campaign. This year, only the spring rains, especially during the month of March, managed to rescue the crops," said Abdelkrim Naaman, the chairman of Nalsya. The organization has advised farmers on seeding, irrigation and drought mitigation as less rain falls and less water flows through Morocco's rivers.

The Agriculture Ministry estimates that this year's wheat harvest will yield roughly 3.4 million tons (3.1 billion kilograms), far less than last year's 6.1 million tons (5.5 billion kilograms) — a yield that was still considered low. The amount of land seeded has dramatically shrunk as well, from 14,170 square miles (36,700 square kilometers) to 9,540 square miles (24,700 square kilometers).

Such a drop constitutes a crisis, said Driss Aissaoui, an analyst and former member of the Moroccan Ministry for Agriculture.

"When we say crisis, this means that you have to import more," he said. "We are in a country where drought has become a structural issue."

Leaning more on imports means the government will have to continue subsidizing prices to ensure households and livestock farmers can afford dietary staples for their families and flocks, said Rachid Benali, the chairman of the farming lobby COMADER.

The country imported nearly 2.5 million tons of common wheat between January and June. However, such a solution may have an expiration date, particularly because Morocco's primary source of wheat, France, is facing shrinking harvests as well.

The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization ranked Morocco as the world's sixth-largest wheat importer this year, between Türkiye and Bangladesh, which both have much bigger populations.

"Morocco has known droughts like this and in some cases known droughts that las longer than 10 years. But the problem, this time especially, is climate change," Benali said.