Cairo, Jakarta Agree to Bolster Economic, Development Cooperation

 Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry during his meeting with the Indonesian Minister of Finance. (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry during his meeting with the Indonesian Minister of Finance. (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)
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Cairo, Jakarta Agree to Bolster Economic, Development Cooperation

 Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry during his meeting with the Indonesian Minister of Finance. (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry during his meeting with the Indonesian Minister of Finance. (Egyptian Foreign Ministry)

Indonesian President Joko Widodo held talks with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Jakarta on Friday.

Both sides agreed to bolster bilateral economic and development cooperation and discussed several topics of mutual interest.

A cabinet statement on Friday revealed that Shoukry handed Widodo a letter from President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi tackling all means of bilateral cooperation between the two countries and ways to enhance them.

Sisi also briefed Widodo about the ongoing preparations to host the COP27 United Nations Climate Change Conference 2022 in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.

Shoukry said Egypt looks forward to give more impetus to all aspects of bilateral ties, according to Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez.

He underlined the importance of continued consultations to coordinate positions in line with the aspirations of the two friendly peoples.

Shoukry arrived in Jakarta as part of an Asian tour he kicked off last week which included Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

He will next visit Pakistan to participate in the 48th session of the Council of Foreign Ministers of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) that will be held in Islamabad on March 22.

Hafez said Shoukry also met Friday with Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani and discussed with him aspects of promoting economic ties and exploring cooperation opportunities in various development fields.

He later signed a memorandum of understanding with his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi to establish an Indonesian-Egyptian joint committee.

Shoukry signed another MoU with Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya Bakar to cooperate in the field of protecting the environment and sustainable development.



WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
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WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)

The World Health Organization is sending more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children being infected after the virus was detected in sewage samples, its chief said on Friday.

"While no cases of polio have been recorded yet, without immediate action, it is just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an opinion piece in Britain's The Guardian newspaper.

He wrote that children under five were most at risk from the viral disease, and especially infants under two since normal vaccination campaigns have been disrupted by more than nine months of conflict.

Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. Cases of polio have declined by 99% worldwide since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns and efforts continue to eradicate it completely.

Israel's military said on Sunday it would start offering the polio vaccine to soldiers serving in the Gaza Strip after remnants of the virus were found in test samples in the enclave.

Besides polio, the UN reported last week a widespread increase in cases of Hepatitis A, dysentery and gastroenteritis as sanitary conditions deteriorate in Gaza, with sewage spilling into the streets near some camps for displaced people.