Diplomat underlines importance

British Ambassador to Cairo John Casson said that the visit of British Minister of Middle East Affairs Alister Burt to Egypt is very important and is his first visit after the formation of the last government in last June, adding that he met with a number of Egypt’s senior officials, including Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.

He added that the British official was keen to discuss economic cooperation between the two countries, saying that the two countries aspire to strengthen their economic relations during the coming period. He added that United Kingdom is considered the first trade partner of Egypt since 2011. He added that they also discussed cooperation in other fields, including education and security.

 He added that that his country resumes communication with Egypt during the current period to resume the British flights to Sahrm Al Sheikh. He stressed that a large number of British tourists travel to Alexandria, Marsa Allam, Hurghada, Luxor and Aswan, saying that the dialogue continues over the position from Sharm Al Sheikh.

He added that the tourist movement from his country to Egypt witnessed notable progress during the recent period, saying that the number of British tourists who visited Egypt during 2016 reached to 230 thousand tourists. He added that the rate of British tourists who visited the country witnessed increase by over 16 percent.

The Ambassador praised John Cason, British Ambassador to Cairo, the role of the Ministry of aviation in upgrading security at Cairo airport and regional airports. He said full cooperation with the Ministry of aviation to detect explosives at airports, saying the Ministry's role in collaboration and training.

Ambassador acknowledges the general outline of the city airport, indicating the desire of major companies investing in the British city.

Regarding the efforts to combat terrorism, the British diplomat said that his country suffers from extremism like Egypt, saying that they aspire to cooperation to take strict position from the extremist groups during the current period. He stressed that they work currently to increase security measures aiming to eliminate extremism during the coming period, saying that he is confident that they will eradicate the extremist ideologies.

He expressed the British government intention to enhance cooperation with Egypt in the coming period, especially cooperation with the Ministry of Interior to combat terrorism. He affirmed that the British Government agrees with Egypt that there aren't any reasons for acts of violence and attempts to provoke riots in the Egyptian streets.