CAIRO: Egypt and Saudi Arabia agreed to establish their maritime boundaries in the Red Sea, Egypt’s presidency said in a statement Thursday.
The agreement was reached between Egyptian President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and Saudi Defense Minister Prince Mohamed bin Salman, who attended the graduation ceremony of a new military academy batch in Cairo Thursday.
Egypt is one of nine member states that participated, via air and naval forces and in the Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen against the Iran-backed Houthis, who have controlled northern parts of the country since January.
Egypt has announced that it will not “tolerate” the closure of Red Sea’s Bab al-Mandeb Strait by the Houthis. AP reported Feb. 23 that “Egypt has set up a special rapid deployment force” to take military action and intervene if the Houthis threatened maritime navigation through the strait.
According to the Cairo Declaration issued Thursday, both countries agreed to boost the military cooperation via forming joint Arab unified forces; enhance power, electricity, and transpiration cooperation; achieve economic integration; increase the mutual Egyptian-Saudi investment; and deepen media and culture cooperation.
The one-day visit comes a week after Egypt’s Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry had visited Jeddah where he and his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir assured mutual support to the legitimacy of the Yemeni government.