CAIRO: Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi (right) meets Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al- Khaled Al-Sabah (center) as Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry looks on yesterday. —AFP

CAIRO: Kuwait's Acting Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah met Egypt's President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi at Cairo's Al-Ittihadiya Palace yesterday. The minister delivered a message of greetings from HH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to the Egyptian leader. He also expressed Kuwait's condolences over lives lost in "terrorist incidents" that recently targeted Egypt. Furthermore, he reiterated Kuwait's "steadfast and unwavering support" of Egypt's anti-terrorism efforts and measures taken by Cairo aimed at bolstering security and stability. During the talks, the two officials discussed regional and international developments.

Meanwhile, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry told Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled yesterday Egypt is standing by the list of demands it and three Gulf Arab countries made of Qatar and will keep sanctions against Doha in place. Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt imposed sanctions on Qatar on June 5, cutting diplomatic and transport ties with the tiny Gulf monarchy, after accusing it of financing militant groups and allying with their regional arch-foe Iran. Doha denies the accusations.

Kuwait has been leading mediation efforts between Qatar and the four Arab states boycotting it. Sisi told Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled he appreciated what HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah was doing to preserve Arab unity, but that Egypt would not let anyone interfere in its affairs and would stand strong against policies that support terrorism, his spokesman Alaa Youssef said in a statement.

"The foreign minister affirmed to his Kuwaiti counterpart Egypt's commitment to the list of demands presented to the state of Qatar and the continuation of sanctions taken against it," Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said in a statement. The insistence comes "in light of what the quartet states see as Qatar's stalling and procrastination, and lack of concern for the concerns of the four states," he said.

Shoukry told Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled the only way the crisis would be resolved was if Qatar fulfilled the demands, which include curtailing its support for the Muslim Brotherhood, shutting down the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera satellite TV channel, closing a Turkish military base and downgrading its relations with rival Iran. - Agencies