ISTANBUL: Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan greeted Egypt's leader Abdul Fattah Al Sissi on Wednesday as he arrived in Ankara to seal their mended ties.
The two men shook hands as Al Sissi stepped off his plane in the Turkish capital, according to images released by the Turkish presidency.
After a decade of frosty relations, the two leaders said they had turned over a "new leaf" in ties in February, when Ergodan visited Cairo.
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.
In 2013, Ankara and Cairo cut ties after Al Sissi, then defence minister, ousted Islamist president Mohammad Morsi, an ally of Turkey and part of the Muslim Brotherhood movement.
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Erdogan said at the time he would never speak to “anyone” like Al Sissi, 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 the Israel-Hamas war 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.
