WASHINGTON, Feb 9 (KUNA) -- US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed his "respect" for what he described as Egypt's "political transition" Tuesday, as well as its role in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, calling the nation "a leader of the Arab World." In remarks alongside his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry at the Department of State, Kerry acknowledged that Cairo is "facing a huge economic challenge ... and so the success of the transformation that is currently being worked on is critical for the United States and obviously for the region and for Egypt." He added that "Egypt has been playing a key role" in bringing together a government in Libya, as well as in the fight against the so-called Islamic State group (IS), and "their leadership and participation within the International Syria Support Group (ISSG)." Kerry lauded Egypt's commitment to "try to advance the prospects for a ceasefire," and noted that he and Shoukry "have been seeing each other on a regular basis over the last few weeks in Rome and London," and will meet again on the sidelines of the Moscow-sponsored Munich Security Conference on Thursday.
For his part, the Egyptian foreign minister reiterated the significance of the "strategic relationship" between the two countries, calling it "a cornerstone of (Cairo's) foreign policy." He added: "Our perspective has always been a comprehensive approach dealing with all of the terrorist organizations and to the political and economic and social conditions that have provided this status of expansion of the terrorist threat.
"But we are confident that the activity that has been taken in the past has resulted in positive reduction of that threat in Iraq, and hopefully the political process that has been initiated in Syria will provide us all with more ability to control the spread of terrorism in Syria and for that country to regain its stability." As Egypt moves toward its "democratization," Shoukry affirmed, "We are going through a transitional period, one that this government has a very defined vision in advancing the aspirations of the Egyptian people. And we can only do so with the assistance of our friends and partners, and of course, primary among them is the United States of America.
Egypt is the second largest recipient of foreign assistance from the US after Israel, and received more than USD 1.5 billion in Fiscal Year 2015. (end) ys.bs