On 14 and 15 February, the Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sameh Hassan Shoukry was in Spain for an official visit during which he met with King Felipe VI and his Spanish counterpart Alfonso Dastis. On behalf of the Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, FM Shoukry conveyed an official invitation to King Felipe VI to visit Cairo. FM Shoukry met with his Spanish counterpart FM Dastis in a meeting that was also attended by Spain’s state minister of defense. This was the second meeting at ministerial level between Spain and Egypt after Minister Dastis travelled to Cairo, in December 2016, to attend the ministerial meeting Arab League-EU.  During the meeting, Shoukry expressed Egypt’s desire to enhance economic relations with Spain in various fields and discussed Egypt’s ongoing economic reforms, stressing the importance of Spanish companies contributing in the areas of infrastructure and sustainable energy. Spain expressed its will to enhance bilateral economic and trade exchange relations between the two countries. The Egyptian foreign minister also mentioned Egypt’s efforts to curb irregular migration, saying that the country has been successful in preventing migrant boats from sailing for Europe from Egypt since September 2016. The ministers agreed on establishing a periodic political consultation mechanism between the two countries at the level of foreign ministers. The ministers also exchanged their visions on regional and international issues. The meeting took place ahead of Egyptian presidential elections that will be held between 26 and 28 March 2018 and ahead of the beginning of the mandate of Egyptian Ambassador Nasser Ahmed Kamel as Secretary-General of the Union for the Mediterranean, replacing Fathallah Sijilmassi, whose term will end on 28 February. This appointment was announced by the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 10 February in a press release on its website.