Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi will meet with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, in Ankara on Wednesday, the Turkish presidency said, as the two seal their reconciliation, Agence France-Presse reported.
After a decade of frosty relations, the two leaders said they had turned over a “new leaf” in their ties during Erdoğan’s visit to Cairo in February.
Wednesday’s visit comes in response to that diplomatic meeting during which they pledged greater cooperation in the Middle East and bolstered trade, the Turkish presidency said on Tuesday.
The relationship deteriorated in 2013 after Sisi, then defense minister, ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, an ally of Turkey and part of the Muslim Brotherhood movement.
Erdoğan said at the time he would never speak to “anyone” like Sisi, who in 2014 became president of the Arab world’s most populous nation.
But relations between the two men have warmed over the past two years, with their interests aligning on several issues, including Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
Despite the decade of estrangement, trade between the two countries never ceased: Turkey is Egypt’s fifth-largest trading partner, while Egypt is Turkey’s largest in Africa.