CAIRO: Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will head to Turkiye and Syria on Monday, his office said, for the first such visit in a decade of tense relations with both countries.

The trip aims to show “solidarity with the two countries and their brotherly peoples” after the devastating earthquake on Feb 6, a foreign ministry statement said.

Shoukry’s visit is the latest example of Arab outreach to the internationally-isolated Syrian government.

On Feb 7, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi called his Syrian counterpart Bashar Al Assad, in the first official exchange between the two leaders.

Shoukry also spoke with his Syrian counterpart.

The same day, Sisi spoke with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in one of their first diplomatic contacts under a recent rapprochement.

Published in Dawn, February 27th, 2023