Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett met this week at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm El Sheikh, the first meeting between the two countries’ leaders in a decade as the pair “laid the foundation for deep ties moving forward.”
On the agenda was the security situation in the Gaza Strip. Energy relations between the two countries have flourished in recent years with Egypt importing Israeli gas from January last year (MEES, 17 September & MEES, 26 February) and both are key members of the newly-formed East Mediterranean Gas Forum (EMGF – MEES, 9 July). Egypt is also leaning on Israel to act as an intermediary in its dispute with Ethiopia over the latter’s filling of the Grand Ethiopia Renaissance Dam (MEES, 30 October 2020). (CONTINUED - 126 WORDS)