Turkey PM to visit Egypt for talks on boosting ties

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due in Egypt on November 17 for talks on boosting ties between the two Muslim countries, foreign ministry spokesman Amr Roshdi said on Saturday. He said details of the trip were agreed during talks in Ankara on Friday between Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr and his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu. Erdogan is to be accompanied by a delegation of 12 ministers, “the largest in the history of diplomatic relations between the two countries,” the spokesman said in a statement received by AFP. Egypt’s Finance Minister Mumtaz al-Said said last month the two countries had reached agreement on a Turkish loan of $1 billion (787 million) as part of an aid package of $2 billion to support the troubled Egyptian economy. Political instability since last year’s overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak has damaged Egypt’s major revenue earner, tourism, and led to a drop in foreign investments and deepened the budget deficit.