Kerry is expected to travel to Qatar on Monday.
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Kerry congratulated Egypt on the “major” Suez project ahead of its opening Thursday, and he announced that U.S.-Egypt trade and investment consultations will resume in the fall.
The strategic dialogue was final held in 2009 and didn’t happen in subsequent years because of the Arab Spring and turmoil following the overthrow of Egypt’s authoritarian chief Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
But Washington kept up public condemnation of the brutal repression by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s regime of supporters of his ousted Islamist predecessor, Mohamed Morsi.
That help had been on maintain till earlier this yr as a outcome of human rights and democracy considerations within the wake of the coup towards Morsi.
The official said Malaysia needs to do much more, expanding prosecutions and meeting standards laid out in U.S. anti-trafficking legislation.
“The fact that these talks have taken almost two years to convene reflects Washington’s continued discomfort with Egypt’s repressive trajectory”, as well as more pressing matters elsewhere in the region with the rise of Islamic State, Eric Trager and Eitan Sayag at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, wrote on the research center’s website.
He also highlighted the important and pivotal role played by Egypt at the regional and worldwide levels. The Committee to Protect Journalists said a prison census it conducted on June 1 found at least 18 Egyptian journalists were in jail for their reporting. One of thousands imprisoned after Morsi’s overthrow, Soltan had been on a hunger strike for more than a year before being freed in May after repeated U.S. requests.
Egyptian state television aired live footage of Kerry meeting with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and other officials.
Mr. Shoukry stressed at a joint news briefing with Mr. Kerry that Cairo would continue its crackdown on the Brotherhood and its affiliates.
Still, Kerry mildly rebuked Egyptian officials for their imprisonment of democracy advocates and journalists.
Kerry also reiterated that the US and Egypt are closely cooperating to introduce political reforms and sounding governance which could be the launching pad for the success of any country in the 21st century.
“We have significantly increased military cooperation as seen from the delivery of the F-16s, other equipment and goods which are very essential in the fight against terrorism”, Kerry said.
Following Mursi’s ouster, Cairo cracked down on the now outlawed Muslim Brotherhood.
In addition to military cooperation, Kerry and Shoukri are to discuss Washington’s human rights “concerns”.
Mr. Shoukry denied his government was suppressing freedom of speech.
Egypt and the US have maintained a decades-long strategic political and military relationship since 1979, which marked the signing of the peace treaty with Israel.
Kerry arrived in the Qatari capital on Sunday after visiting Egypt, where he also spoke in favour of the agreement reached with Iran last month in Vienna.
The Iran nuclear deal is among the items on the agenda.
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The Russian Foreign Ministry said Lavrov was visiting Qatar to discuss peace moves in Syria, Yemen and Libya, global consolidation against ISIL, stability in the Gulf, and bilateral relations between Russia and Qatar.
