AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi over expanding cooperation in a number of vital sectors and continuing coordination and consultation to serve Arab interests and achieve regional security and stability.

 

Talks, held at Basman Palace and attended by HRH Crown Prince Hussein, covered mutual cooperation in the fields of economy, trade, investment, pharmaceutical industry, energy, transportation and labour, in addition to military collaboration, a Royal Court statement said. 

 

During expanded talks that were attended by senior officials from both countries, the two leaders expressed their pride in the “distinguished level” of Jordanian-Egyptian relations and their keenness to further improve cooperation in all fields.

 

The King commended Egypt’s regional role and its efforts to enhance stability and counter terrorism.

 

Talks also focused on activatingthe recommendations and outcomes of the higher Jordanian-Egyptian committee meetings in 2017, as well as holding further meetings of the committee in the near future to pave the way for economic and trade cooperation.

 

Regarding bolstering cooperation in the field of energy, discussions went over the resumption of Egyptian natural gas supply to the Kingdom, according to the statement. A deal was signed later towards that end (See separate story).

 

Regional developments were also discussed with the King and Sisi, who left the Kingdom later in the day, stressing the necessity of supporting the Palestinians to achieve their legitimate rights of establishing an independent Palestinian state along the pre-1967 lines, with East Jerusalem as its capital.  

 

They underlined the need for intensifying international efforts to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and achieve a just peace on the basis of the two-state solution and the Arab Peace Initiative.

 

Discussions, which continued over a lunch banquet, also highlighted the need to end Israeli escalations in Jerusalem and violations at Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif compound, the statement added.

 

A number of regional issues and crises in the region were also discussed, particularly the developments in Syria and the importance of reaching a political solution that would preserve the unity of Syria and its people.