Türkiye's Ambassador to Egypt Salih Mutlu Sen has been carrying out a tour of Egyptian provinces in attempt to bolster rapprochement between Ankara and Cairo.
The two counties have sought to mend ties in recent months, culminating in Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s visit to Egypt in February and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's visit to Ankara in September, effectively launching a new phase of cooperation.
Türkiye is keen to highlight its cultural and educational presence in Egypt and this was evident during Sen’s meetings in Cairo and participation on Thursday in a ceremony for academics who helped develop Turkish language departments at Egyptian universities.
Speaking at the ceremony, Sen said Egypt’s focus on the Turkish language is “valuable and can be traced back to cultural and historic reasons.”
He hoped that Turkish will be taught further in Egypt, adding that Ankara was keen on increasing to 500 the number of scholarships it awards to Egyptian students and that it was also eager to send Turkish teachers to work in Egypt.
Egypt and Türkiye enjoy important economic cooperation. They are seeking to increase their trade exchange from 9.5 billion dollars to 15 billion dollars annually.
Egyptian and Turkish officials said on Wednesday they were interested in establishing two new industrial zones in Egypt’s New Administrative Capital and October 6 city.
The zone in the New Administrative Capital will boast some 500 factories and provide job opportunities for some 25,000 people.
Sen told Asharq Al-Awsat there was high demand for the industrial zones, especially those boasting the proper infrastructure.
The economy is one of the areas of strength in Turkish-Egyptian relations, he added.
Türkiye boasts several investments in Egypt, especially in the garment industry, he remarked.
The development of infrastructure in the New Administrative Capital and October 6 is expected to be complete withing three years, while the factories there will be constructed within five to ten, revealed Sen.
Former aide to the Egyptian foreign minister Rakha Ahmed Hassan said Egyptian-Turkish relations are witnessing a revival.
The economic cooperation has been coupled with an improvement in political and security ties, he told Asharq Al-Awsat.
In fact, economic cooperation between them never stopped during the years of strained relations, he added.
However, the reconciliation created momentum to establish new projects and develop current ones, he explained.
