US Secretary of State, John Kerry visited Friday Egypt in part of a tour to the Middle East and Asia, in which he is scheduled to fly to Qatar next, Al Bawaba News reported. In Egypt, Kerry will head Sunday along with his Egyptian counterpart, Sameh Shoukry, the "strategic dialogue" between the two allies, whose relations strained following the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. This dialogue will be held for the first time since 2009, following the announcement of the United States to hand over eight F-16 fighter jets to Egypt, after Washington lifted its partial freeze of the military aid to Cairo in late March. Kerry has left Washington heading to Egypt to revive the strategic partnership between the two countries, before flying to Qatar to ease the worried Gulf Arab states about the Iranian nuclear deal. Then, Kerry will head to Southeast Asia, an area of particular interest to the American diplomacy. He will first land in Singapore on the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of its independence, then visit Kuala Lumpur from the 4th to 6th of August, where Malaysia chairs this year's session of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Kerry concludes his tour in Vietnam, who will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the diplomatic relations between Hanoi and Washington from the 6th to 8th of August. However, this tour does not include Israel, who is an ally of the US and remains a strong refusal of Iran's nuclear agreement.
