President of the European Council Donald Tusk said on Tuesday the EU should discuss the potential to step up cooperation with Egypt, the council said on its website.

"After my visit in Cairo, I have no doubt that we should also discuss the potential to step up cooperation with Egypt, including in the area of migration," an invitation letter by Tusk to the members of the European Council ahead of the informal meeting in Salzburg on 19 and 20 September 2018 read.

"It is worth recalling that the Egyptian authorities have made the fight against smuggling and trafficking their priority. As a result, there have been no irregular departures from Egypt to Europe this year (compared to almost 13,000 in 2016)," he added.

Tusk also called for endorsing the initiative to call an EU-League of Arab States summit in early 2019.