UK’s Defence Senior Advisor concludes visit to Egypt

During the visit, the UK Chief of Defence Staff’s Senior Advisor to the Middle East & North Africa (DSAME) held high-level meetings with senior officials from the Egyptian Armed Forces and was accompanied by British Defence Attaché to Egypt Captain (Royal Navy) Stephen Deacon.

AM Martin Sampson met with Commander of Egyptian Air Forces where both sides discussed ways to enhance bilateral cooperation between the two nations’ Air Forces.

DSAME also convened meetings with Chief of Training Authority and Chief of Armament Authority, where both sides discussed topics of common interest and explored ways to deepen the future training and defence procurement engagements.

Making remarks at the end of his visit, Air Marshal Martin Sampson said:

I am delighted to be back in Egypt and to meet senior officials from the Egyptian Armed Forces. We have had very fruitful discussions about ways to reinforce our bilateral military partnership, including: joint training and exercises; operational coordination to counter terrorism and promote our common security interests in the region and our shared prosperity agendas.

British Ambassador to Egypt, Sir Geoffrey Adams, said:

Air Marshal Sampson’s visit shows our continued commitment to working with Egypt to strengthen our defence relations: from defence procurement, to training, to sharing expertise. Earlier this year, the UK published a new defence strategy, alongside our Integrated Review of foreign, defence, and security policy, and that strategy makes clear the importance of partnership to our collective security and military capacity. Visits like this advance those aims. We are committed to working with Egypt in the interests of both countries’ security, and we look forward to further cooperation in future.