US Army Central commanding general, Michael Garrett, met with senior Egyptian military officials to discuss the military partnership between the United States and Egypt in a two-day visit to Cairo, the US Embassy in Cairo announced Thursday.
According to an official statement, Garrett's 9-10 August visit tackled "joint efforts to fight terrorism, and shared interests in regional stability and security."
"The visit concluded with a vision for increasing military-to-military cooperation and training events for aviation units from both countries," US Army Central said in a statement on its Facebook page.
This is the second visit to Egypt of Garrett as commanding general of UN Army Central. During his first visit to Egypt, in January 2016, Garrett said: “Our partnership with the Egyptian military is incredibly important for the stability of the region.”
The US Navy Commander visited Egypt 17 July to discuss shared security interests with senior Egyptian officials, days before the US Navy began missions in support of Operation Inherent Resolve (OIR) from the Arabian Gulf 22 July.
A series of mutual visits have been ongoing between Egyptian and US security officials in recent months to discuss ways of strengthening cooperation to fight terrorism in the region.
The United States provides Egypt with $1.3 billion in military aid annually, with the 2016 package including $150 million in economic assistance.
