Egyptian energy minister on rare visit in Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Energy Minister Yuval Steinitz met yesterday with Egyptian Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister Tarek el-Mulla, on a first public visit to Israel. The last time an Egyptian senior official visited Israel was in 2016 when Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry arrived in Jerusalem. In all, only Egypt’s foreign and intelligence ministers had visited Israel in the past 15 years.

Present at the Feb. 21 meeting were also national security adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat, Israel’s Ambassador to Egypt Amira Oron, Egyptian Ambassador to Israel Khaled Azmi, and Magdy Galal, chair of the state-owned Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company that manages Egyptian state shares in natural gas projects.