Foreign Minister Tonio Borg has held talks in Cairo with Egyptian Prime Minister Dr Ahmed Nazifand Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit on bilateral and European issues.

The Foreign Ministry said he also signed a Memorandum of Understanding for Visa Waiver for Diplomatic Service and Special Passports and a Memorandum of Understanding on Youth Cooperation.

Malta and Egypt already have 11 bilateral agreements mainly covering areas such as air services, cultural, technical and scientific co-operation, tourism and double taxation.

The Memorandum of Understanding on Youth Cooperation was described by Dr Borg as the kick-off to paving the way for initiatives from both countries to foster better relations in matters related to youths.

He said that relations between the two countries were excellent but they could be taken to a higher level, particularly with regard to trade and investment.

Seminars are regularly held by the Malta embassy in Cairo in collaboration with local representatives in trade and investment. Recently the Embassy organised a seminar on tourism whereby meetings with representatives of top Egyptian tour operators were held. Another recent activity saw the participation of Egyptian and foreign legal and business consultants in a seminar on financial services and residence permits offered by Malta. The seminar was organised jointly by the Embassy of Malta in Cairo and the Representative Office of a Maltese Bank in Egypt.

In Malta there are 67 companies with shareholders from Egypt.

Both sides also discussed the Euro-Arab dialogue. The subject was also discussed with Amr Moussa, Secretary-General of the Arab League.