The first Egyptian Foreign Minister to visit Israel in nine years, Sameh Shoukry, discussed with his Israeli counterparts the natural gas exports to Egypt and regional cooperation in building joint infrastructure for gas exports to Asia or Europe, according to Globes.

Globes added that letters of intent for exports of Israeli gas to Egypt have already been signed and there is a number of deals that will be carried out between the two countries. One deal includes expanding the development of the Tamar gas reservoir. Another business agreement includes facilitating the development of the Leviathan reservoir, as Egypt was regarded as the anchor customer for the field.

Bloomberg wrote that nearly forty years since the two countries signed a peace accord, Israel and Cairo are slowly turning a cool relationship into an alliance. They have tightened security cooperation to an unprecedented level and have been working on conducting the proper legal groundwork needed for signing a multi-billion dollar energy contract, amid the big discoveries in the Mediterranean region.

Standing beside Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, at a press conference, Shoukry said: “My visit to Israel today is a continuation of Egypt’s longstanding sense of responsibility towards peace for itself and all the peoples of the region, particularly the Palestinian-Israeli peoples.” Netanyahu stated that “it [the visit] illustrates the change that has taken place in Israeli-Egyptian ties, including President El Sisi’s important call to advance peacemaking, with the Palestinians as well as Arab states.”