Turkey labor minister hints at improved ties with Egypt

By Aydogan Kalabalik

CAIRO

Turkey’s labor and social security minister met his Egyptian counterpart earlier this week in Beijing, Egypt’s Manpower Ministry said Friday.

In a statement, the ministry said that Egyptian Manpower Minister Mohamed Safan had met Turkish Labor and Social Security Minister Suleyman Soylu in the Chinese capital, where the two were participating in a meeting of G20 labor ministers.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Soylu stressed the need to improve Turkey-Egypt relations with a view to confronting the challenges currently facing the Middle East region, according to the Egyptian ministry statement.

Safan, the statement went on, said Egypt would welcome Turkish investment and had vowed to provide adequate human resources for future Turkish projects in his country.

Soylu, for his part, has yet to comment on the reported meeting in China with his Egyptian counterpart.

Both Turkish and Egyptian officials have recently signaled their readiness to improve bilateral ties.

Turkey-Egypt relations soured three years ago after Mohamed Morsi -- Egypt’s first freely-elected president and a Muslim Brotherhood leader -- was ousted in a military coup.

While in China, Soylu also met with Chinese Human Resources and Social Security Minister Yin Weimin and Saudi Arabian Labor and Social Development Minister Mofarrej al-Haqbani.

China, which currently holds the G20’s rotating presidency, hosted the G20 Labor and Employment Ministerial Meeting in Beijing on July 12 and 13.