Asmara, Eritrea — The President of the Federal Republic of Somalia, H.E. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, arrived in Asmara today at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday noon for a working visit.

The Somali President and his high-level delegation were accorded a warm welcome by President Isaias Afwerki and other senior officials on arrival at Asmara International Airport.

The two leaders of Somalia and Eritrea will discuss the enhancement of bilateral ties as well as regional developments and matters of mutual interest, according to the presidency.

Eritrea trains thousands of Somali soldiers, who were visited by President Hassan Sheikh at their training camps three times since last year after he won the presidential election.

The first batch of several thousand Somali troops that were sent to Eritrea for training in 2019 and 2020 have arrived back in Mogadishu.

The returned Eritrea-trained soldiers are now on the frontline against Al-Shabaab and they made gains since joining the offensive which was launched in August last year.

Parents of the soldiers, who feared their sons would be used in Ethiopia's Tigray war, in which Eritrea was involved, had pressured the Somali government to bring the troops home.