A Turkish diplomat is in Egypt for the first time since relations broke between the countries a decade ago.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu, at a joint news conference with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry spoke on the possibility of restoring ties to the ambassadorial level which would happen at “the appropriate time.”

“I’m very glad that we are taking concrete steps for normalising relations with Egypt… We will do our best not to rupture our ties again in the future,” Cavusoglu said.

Turkey established diplomatic relations with Egypt in 1925 at the level of Charge d’ Affaires and upgraded its mission in Cairo to the Ambassadorial level in 1948. Relations however became strained in 2013 after Egypt’s then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi led the ouster of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Mursi, an ally of Ankara, but have gradually thawed since 2021.

Consultations between senior foreign ministry officials in Ankara and Cairo began in 2021, amid Turkey’s efforts to ease tensions with Egypt, the UAE, Israel, and Saudi Arabia.

Shoukry referred to a brief meeting between Sisi and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan at the Qatar World Cup, that “there is a political will and directives from the presidents of both countries when they met in Doha … to launch the path towards a full normalisation of relations.”

Egypt is Turkey’s major commercial partner in the African continent but the two countries differ on several issues that they must work out in order to push their bilateral relations forward.

British interior minister Suella Braverman is scheduled to visit the East African country, Rwanda for further discussions on an agreement where Britain will relocate migrants who arrive without permission.

Braverman, who will also meet Rwandan President Paul Kagame during the trip. said that the removal of migrants to Rwanda could be put into action shortly.

“I am visiting Rwanda this weekend to reinforce the government’s commitment to the partnership as part of our plan to stop the boats and discuss plans to operationalise our agreement shortly,” she said in a statement.

The UK government had reached an agreement with Rwanda in April to deport people who enter the country illegally to the East African country in an exchange deal worth £120 for millions in development aid.

The agreement was reached to send tens of thousands of migrants more than 4,000 miles away (6,400 km) to Rwanda. The British government has maintained raised the need to disrupt the activities of smugglers while addressing humanitarian concerns.

Opposition parties and charities have described the government’s plans for immigration as unethical and unworkable but Braverman defended her approach, and described her opponents as “naive do-gooders.”

A refugee is someone who is ‘owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.”

Britain spends more than 2 billion pounds a year to accommodate them and has tendered a $95 million contract to transport them to countries like Rwanda instead.

A record 45,000 migrants arrived in Britain last year on small boats. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has said that finding a solution is one of his top priorities.