On 26 October, during his visit to Egypt, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andrii Sybiha held bilateral talks in Cairo with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Egyptians Abroad Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt Badr Abdel Aty.

The Head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry noted that the negotiations were meaningful and became a logical continuation of the ministerial meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York. During the negotiations, the Ukrainian diplomat informed his Egyptian colleague about the consequences of the nighttime Russian shelling of Ukraine and its capital.

"My day started today with a call to my wife. It was very noisy over Kyiv at night, Russian drones were being shot down. All this thundered over the heads of my family: my wife and three children. Unfortunately, this is our daily reality today. My day usually starts with news of the death toll from Russian attacks and new missile strikes. We want to put an end to this reality together with our friends," the Minister noted.

Andrii Sybiha emphasized that he had arrived in Cairo today as the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the warring country to discuss ways to strengthen Ukrainian-Egyptian cooperation with mutual benefit for the peoples of the two states.

The diplomat recalled that Ukraine and Egypt had been reliable partners for many years, with a large volume of trade and lively political dialogue. According to him, the history of the Ukrainian-Egyptian bilateral relations has many examples of mutually beneficial cooperation - in the fields of energy, food security, agriculture, engineering, tourism and education.

He also added that the countries had a common history of success in the aerospace field as well: once Ukraine produced the first Egyptian satellite, EgyptSat-1.

"In the light of the above, it is regrettable to state that after the start of Russia's full-scale aggression, our political dialogue has somewhat slowed down, and bilateral cooperation does not meet its real potential. Today we have a common understanding about the need to turn this page. Ukraine is open to the development of cooperation," the Minister noted.

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister emphasized Ukraine's readiness to resume the work of the Intergovernmental Joint Commission, to intensify the activities of the business council and to start negotiations on the conclusion of the Preferential Trade Agreement.

The Minister handed over to his Egyptian colleague a proposal for a Roadmap of priority steps for the development of bilateral cooperation.

The Minister also informed the Egyptian side about the significant defense and industrial potential of Ukraine — technology, experience and a powerful defense industry, which increased sixfold during the full-scale invasion.

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister emphasized that Ukraine would prioritize in such cooperation those countries that supported Ukraine in the most difficult period after 2022.

Diplomats discussed the ways to a comprehensive, just and sustainable peace. The Ukrainian Minister emphasized that the Peace Formula remained the only realistic way to end Russian aggression and invited Egypt to take part in its implementation, in particular, through participation in the second Global Peace Summit.

Another topic of the negotiations was food security. Andrii Sybiha informed his colleague about the intensification of Russian terror against Ukrainian ports, granaries and ships. He added that just since the beginning of autumn, Russian shelling damaged four civilian ships in the ports of Odesa, among which was a ship with grain for Egypt, as well as a ship with a the UN Food Program humanitarian cargo for Palestine.

According to the Minister, Russia pursues a cynical goal — to weaken the Ukrainian economy, to push Ukraine out of foreign markets, to replace our grain with its own and stolen from the temporarily occupied territories of our state.

"For the sake of attaining this goal, Moscow is ready to put millions of people in the world who depend on Ukrainian food at risk of starvation. This is using food as a weapon. And we have to put an end to this," he said.

The Minister emphasized the critical need to restore and protect freedom of navigation in the Black Sea. According to him, for this Ukraine needs the solidarity and strong voice of all interested parties, all like-minded countries that respect the UN Charter and international law. Ukraine expects that Egypt will take a clear and expressive position on this critically important issue.

The situation in the Middle East and Africa was also discussed during the negotiations. Andrii Sybiha emphasized Ukraine's support for the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of the states of the region. He emphasized that Ukraine appreciated the mediation efforts of Cairo, Doha and Washington to settle the war in the Gaza Strip, consistently condemned any terrorist violence and emphasized the importance of protecting civilians and respecting humanitarian law.

"We call to prevent the expansion of war and terror. The basis of any efforts should be the Middle East peace process, the implementation of relevant UN Security Council resolutions and the principle of two states, Israel and Palestine, living in peace and security," the Minister said.

The Foreign Minister also expressed gratitude to the Egyptian side for facilitating the evacuation of Ukrainian citizens from Sudan and the Gaza Strip in the previous two years.

Another important topic of the negotiations was the security threats posed by Russia on the African continent. Andrii Sybiha emphasized that Russia exported instability and chaos to the region, in particular due to the activities of Russian "Wagnerians" in many African countries.

According to him, Russian mercenaries are thugs who do not strengthen security, but export danger. He emphasized that they were bringing death, destruction and destabilization.

The Minister called on all African and Arab states that value stability and progress to join efforts in opposing Russian attempts to expand the zone of chaos and danger.

The Minister expressed the determination of the Ukrainian side to restore the dynamics of bilateral relations, which the Ukrainian and Egyptian peoples deserve.

Following the negotiations, the ministers signed a Memorandum of Understanding between the Hennadii Udovenko Diplomatic Academy of Ukraine at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the Institute of Diplomatic Studies of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Egyptians Abroad Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt, aimed at exchanging knowledge and best practices in the training of personnel for the diplomatic and consular services of the two countries.

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister expressed his gratitude to the Egyptian side for its hospitality and invited Minister Badr Abdel Aty to visit Ukraine on an official visit.