Egyptian foreign ministry official: Egypt keen to strengthen US ties

An Egyptian foreign ministry official expressed his country’s keenness on Monday to strengthen strategic ties with the United States, pointing to Egypt’s uneasiness about the “slowing” of US support for Egypt’s war against terrorism.

The comments came during a meeting between the Assistant Foreign Minister for North and South America Mohamed Farid Moneib with a number of members of the US Congress in the ministry’s headquarters in downtown Cairo.

According to a press statement issued by the Egyptian foreign ministry on Sunday, Moneib listed steps taken by Egypt since 30 June, 2013 towards “the establishment of a state that meets the aspirations of the Egyptian people”.

Monieb also spoke during the meeting about the economic reforms undertaken by the Egyptian government in-order to reform the subsidies and taxation systems to “redirect these resources to raising the living standards of Egyptian citizens”, the statement noted.

The Egyptian official stressed that the lack of support for Egypt in its war against terrorism would send negative signals which will help in supporting terrorism and therefore harm the region’s security and stability.