Egypt’s Foreign Minister, Sameh Shoukry, arrived in Addis Ababa to attend the preliminary meetings of the 32nd summit of African Union (AU) expected to be held on 10 February and will end on 11 February.

Shoukry will lead the Egyptian delegation during the meetings of the African ministerial committees on Wednesday and the AU executive council at the level of foreign ministers, which will take place on 7 and 8 February, according ministry’s spokesperson Ahmed Hafez.

Hafez said that upcoming summit has special significance since Egypt will take over as president of the AU this year, and added that Egypt will focus during the meeting on achieving AU institutional and financial reforms, building stronger bridges for cultural communication among African peoples, and enhancing cooperation with all partners.

He also expressed Egypt’s keenness to work with African countries on issues of regional integration, social and economic development, peace and security, among others.

This comes after Shoukry headed to the Belgian capital Brussels on Sunday, to attend the Arab-European ministerial meeting in order to discuss preparations for the Arab-European summit, which will be hosted by Egypt on 24-25 February, that will be attended by presidents of Arab and European states and governments.

He also gave speech on the recent updates in Syria and Libya, the human rights’ situation, and efforts toward combating terrorism.