Egypt and Greece have signed search-and-rescue and agriculture agreements in the latest move to increase bilateral co-operation and further isolate Turkey, experts said.
The two bilateral deals were signed in Cairo on Tuesday during meetings between the Egyptian and Greek foreign affairs ministers, Sameh Shoukry and Nikos Dendias, and defence ministers Mohamed Zaki and Nikos Panagiotopoulos.
The Aeronautical and Maritime Search and Rescue agreement signed by the defence ministers will allow the countries to co-operate on migrant search-and-rescue operations in the Mediterranean, according to a statement from the Greek Foreign Ministry.
Under the second agreement on the Employment of Seasonal Workers in the Agricultural Sector, 5,000 Egyptian farmers will have the right to enter and stay in Greece for up to nine months to help harvest Greek crops.
The agreements are meant to “save precious lives” and promote “legal and regular migration”, Mr Dendias said after the signings.
But he also took a jab at long-time adversary Turkey, which signed a controversial maritime and gas deal with one of Libya’s two rival administrations last month.
“We are also sending a clear message that our actions are always based on international norms. In no way do we ever try to infringe upon the sovereignty or the sovereign rights of other countries, contrary to what others in the region are doing on a constant basis,” Mr Dendias said.
Egypt, Greece and the European Union criticised Turkey’s agreement with Libya’s eastern-based government, saying it infringed upon the sovereign rights of third states and does not comply with the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Turkey is not a party to the international agreement that establishes a legal framework for all marine and maritime activities. Its territorial concern is that it would effectively be locked out of the Aegean Sea owing to the large number of Greek islands.
“Greece is trying to maintain this position that ‘we respect international law and Turkey operates outside the rule of international law’,” said Nikolaos Nikolakakis, an assistant political science professor at the British University in Egypt.
“It’s more like the moral high ground, rather than a negotiating tactic. Because, if you go into the negotiating tactic, Turkey is not bound by a treaty that it has not ratified,” he said.
Meanwhile, Egypt has had its own fraught relations with Turkey over the past nine years.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opposed the 2013 fall of the Muslim Brotherhood-backed president Mohamed Morsi and insisted in 2019 that he would never meet his Egyptian counterpart.
That changed this week when Mr Erdogan and President Abdel Fattah El Sisi met and shook hands at the Fifa World Cup in Doha in a rare sign of thawing relations.
Still, the move was more about maintaining regional stability and promoting Egypt’s economic interests rather than choosing sides, said Ashraf Naguib, chief executive of Cairo-based think tank Global Trade Matters.
For example, the free trade agreement between Egypt and Turkey, which was signed in 2005 and came into force in 2007, is worth a potential $5 billion in bilateral trade.
“More stability in the region means there’s going to be more economic growth,” Mr Naguib said. “Egypt has always had this ability to balance between our neighbours, especially within the Eastern Mediterranean.”
This is the second time Egypt and Greece have signed their own agreements in response to Turkey’s deals with the Libyan government in Tripoli, which they view as illegitimate.
“Any kind of agreement that tries to strengthen the relationship between the two countries is also in response to what Turkey is doing in Libya,” Prof Nikolakakis said.
A November 2019 agreement that included the delimitation of Turkish and Libyan exclusive economic zones (EEZs) in the Eastern Mediterranean was seen as blatantly disregarding Greek sovereign rights in the region.
It also infringed on Egypt’s plans with Cyprus, Greece and Israel to turn the region into a global energy centre after the discovery of natural gas in huge quantities.
In response, Egypt and Greece signed a maritime deal in August 2020 that partially delimited their respective EEZs.
Egypt also helped to establish the Eastern Mediterranean Gas Forum in September 2020, bringing together Cyprus, Greece, Israel, Italy, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, but excluding Turkey.
Athens hosted the Philia Forum in February 2021 to “promote friendship, peace and prosperity from the Mediterranean to the Gulf” with the participation of Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, France, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Egypt and Greece are looking to enhance co-operation in other fields as well, such as by building an undersea cable that will bring electricity powered by renewable energy from Africa to Europe.
Prof Nikolakakis said the latest agreements “show how much Greece values the relationship with Egypt and how much they want to demonstrate to Turkey ― more importantly ― that the alliance between Greece and Egypt is solid”.
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Company%20profile
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Asia Cup 2018 Qualifier
Sunday's results:
- UAE beat Malaysia by eight wickets
- Nepal beat Singapore by four wickets
- Oman v Hong Kong, no result
Tuesday fixtures:
- Malaysia v Singapore
- UAE v Oman
- Nepal v Hong Kong
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The Settlers
Director: Louis Theroux
Starring: Daniella Weiss, Ari Abramowitz
Rating: 5/5
A new relationship with the old country
Treaty of Friendship between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates
The United kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates; Considering that the United Arab Emirates has assumed full responsibility as a sovereign and independent State; Determined that the long-standing and traditional relations of close friendship and cooperation between their peoples shall continue; Desiring to give expression to this intention in the form of a Treaty Friendship; Have agreed as follows:
ARTICLE 1 The relations between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United Arab Emirates shall be governed by a spirit of close friendship. In recognition of this, the Contracting Parties, conscious of their common interest in the peace and stability of the region, shall: (a) consult together on matters of mutual concern in time of need; (b) settle all their disputes by peaceful means in conformity with the provisions of the Charter of the United Nations.
ARTICLE 2 The Contracting Parties shall encourage education, scientific and cultural cooperation between the two States in accordance with arrangements to be agreed. Such arrangements shall cover among other things: (a) the promotion of mutual understanding of their respective cultures, civilisations and languages, the promotion of contacts among professional bodies, universities and cultural institutions; (c) the encouragement of technical, scientific and cultural exchanges.
ARTICLE 3 The Contracting Parties shall maintain the close relationship already existing between them in the field of trade and commerce. Representatives of the Contracting Parties shall meet from time to time to consider means by which such relations can be further developed and strengthened, including the possibility of concluding treaties or agreements on matters of mutual concern.
ARTICLE 4 This Treaty shall enter into force on today’s date and shall remain in force for a period of ten years. Unless twelve months before the expiry of the said period of ten years either Contracting Party shall have given notice to the other of its intention to terminate the Treaty, this Treaty shall remain in force thereafter until the expiry of twelve months from the date on which notice of such intention is given.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned have signed this Treaty.
DONE in duplicate at Dubai the second day of December 1971AD, corresponding to the fifteenth day of Shawwal 1391H, in the English and Arabic languages, both texts being equally authoritative.
Signed
Geoffrey Arthur Sheikh Zayed
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The more serious side of specialty coffee
While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.
The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.
Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”
One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.
Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms.
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Family reunited
Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe was born and raised in Tehran and studied English literature before working as a translator in the relief effort for the Japanese International Co-operation Agency in 2003.
She moved to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies before moving to the World Health Organisation as a communications officer.
She came to the UK in 2007 after securing a scholarship at London Metropolitan University to study a master's in communication management and met her future husband through mutual friends a month later.
The couple were married in August 2009 in Winchester and their daughter was born in June 2014.
She was held in her native country a year later.
OPINIONS ON PALESTINE & ISRAEL
The biog
DOB: 25/12/92
Marital status: Single
Education: Post-graduate diploma in UAE Diplomacy and External Affairs at the Emirates Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi
Hobbies: I love fencing, I used to fence at the MK Fencing Academy but I want to start again. I also love reading and writing
Lifelong goal: My dream is to be a state minister
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4