For his side, Portuguese Minister of Foreign Affairs Augusto Santos Silva hailed relations binding Cairo and Lisbon, describing them as strong and solid.

Silva stated that cooperation relations between Egypt and Portugal comprise all fields including tourism, economic and commercial spheres.

Silva noted that Portugal is a gateway for Europe while Egypt is the gateway to the Middle East and Africa.

Therefore partnership between such key countries is crucial because boosting cooperation between them represents cooperation between the south and the north of the Mediterranean, Silva added.

He pointed out to the importance of the the Egyptian-Portuguese business council, saying that such forum is considered as a framework to discuss cooperation relations between the two countries and means to foster them in the economic, investment and trade fields.

The Portuguese foreign minister underlined that Portuguese exports for Egypt have been increased noticeably during the past year.

Silva stressed the necessity to increase the trade volume and boosting economic cooperation in favor of the two countries as well as to encourage Egyptian and Portuguese companies to work together

Source : Mena