Malaysia, Egypt to reactivate bilateral mechanisms - Saifuddin

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia and Egypt have agreed to reactivate their bilateral mechanisms by convening the Second Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) before November this year, said Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah.

The JCM, to be hosted by Malaysia, will be held at the level of foreign ministers of both countries," he told a joint press conference with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Hassan Shoukry after holding a bilateral meeting here, today. The first meeting of JCM was held in Cairo, in 2008.

The Second JCM meeting should be held before November as Egypt will be busy hosting the 27th Session of the Conference of Parties (COP27) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in Sharm El Sheikh in November 2022.

Meanwhile, Sameh Shoukry, who is in three-day inaugural visit to Malaysia starting Monday said the second JCM is important to further boost areas of cooperation between both countries besides developing a roadmap that could be mutually reinforced to various areas of cooperation.

The Egyptian foreign minister said his visit to Malaysia is important as it represented a qualitative shift in bilateral relations of both countries in terms of political, economic and cultural level.

He also congratulated Malaysia for successfully implementing the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme, its move to reopen international borders on April 1 and its election to the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) for the term 2022-2024.

Meanwhile, Saifuddin said he and his Egyptian counterpart also touched on the Ukraine-Russia conflict in their bilateral meeting where both agreed there should be continuous efforts to find a political solution to this issue through peaceful dialogues and negotiations.

"At the same time, we agreed that there should be efforts to de-escalate and focus on humanitarian assistance.

"We share the view that unilateral sanctions can exacerbate tension and have far reaching regional and global ramifications," he added.

Egypt is Malaysia's largest trading partner in north Africa. In 2021, Malaysia-Egypt total trade was valued at RM3.8 billion (US$904.1 million), a substantial increase of 84.5 per cent, compared to the recorded value in 2020.

-- BERNAMA