U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in the Egyptian capital Cairo on Saturday as the beginning of a tour in the Middle East region, official MENA news agency reported.

 

Kerry's two-day visit to Cairo will include a strategic dialogue with Washington's longtime ally and will also discuss support to Egypt in it's war against terrorism, particularly in the restive North Sinai province.

 

The U.S.-Egyptian strategic dialogue, scheduled for Sunday, will be led by Kerry and his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shukry to relaunch partnership between the two countries.

 

Kerry is scheduled to visit Qatar on Monday as an attempt to reassure the Gulf partners about the nuclear deal recently-reached with Iran.

 

Relations between Washington and Cairo have been uneasy since the ouster of former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in July 2013, after which Washington froze parts of its 1.3-billion-dollar annual military aids to the Arab country.

 

The two countries' ties have improved since former military chief Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi took office in mid-2014. Egypt has recently received eight F-16 aircraft and two navy vessels from the United States.

(Xinhua)