Sameh Shoukry

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu described their meeting with his Egyptian Sameh Shoukry as "open and sincere" and said the process has begun to raise the bilateral relations to the level of ambassadors.

Ankara and Cairo will raise diplomatic relations to the highest level "as soon as possible," Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu said on March 18, noting that President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and his Egyptian counterpart, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, could meet after the elections in Türkiye as part of efforts to end of a decade of estrangement between the two countries.

Türkiye's chief diplomat was in Cairo on March 18 for talks with Egyptian officials as the regional powers seek to mend their frayed ties after years of tensions.

Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Türkiye's foreign minister, landed in the Egyptian capital early Saturday. He was the highest-ranking Turkish official to visit the Arab World's most populous nation in over a decade.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu will visit Egypt, his ministry announced Friday, the first such high-level trip in more than a decade as the countries repair relations damaged in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring.

Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu will pay a one-day visit to Egypt on March 18 amid ongoing efforts to mend ties between Ankara and Cairo.

Çavuşoğlu will be the first senior Turkish official to visit Egypt in the last decade.

Egypt announced on Jan. 2 the recovery of a sarcophagus lid dating back nearly 2,700 years that it said had been smuggled out and put on display at a museum in the United States.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry announced the recovery of the artifact, known as the "Green Sarcophagus," during a televised press conference.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said relations between Egypt and Turkey have seen progress.

"The issue (of normalizing relations) has not yet reached the next step but there is some progress that we hope we will build on," Shoukry said in an interview with the local MBC Egypt channel late on Oct. 1. 

Foreign Affairs Minister Bogdan Aurescu will participate in Brussels on Monday in the meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers from EU member states (Foreign Affairs Council - FAC), a meeting debating geopolitical aspects related to the new digital technologies, EU's Strategic Compass and the situation in Ethiopia, as well as recent developments in Afghanistan and Lebanon.

Egypt has praised recent steps by Turkey towards normalizing ties between the two countries.

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said in a TV interview late on July 3 that the softening of criticism towards the Egyptian government by Turkey-based opposition channels was preparing the ground for normalizing relations.

Turkey is seeking to establish new mechanisms for discussing bilateral issues with Egypt, the spokesman of the ruling Justine and Development Party (AKP) has said, informing that a senior delegation of the Foreign Ministry will travel to Cairo to discuss the road map for the normalization of ties.