Cairo: Egyptian President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi and his Sudanese counterpart Hassan Al Bashir Sunday criticized media over recent strains in the two Arab countries’ ties.

With Al Bashir standing next to him at a press conference following their talks in Cairo, Al Sissi urged the media to be “careful” about reporting on the status of ties with neighbouring Sudan.

“I want to go out of the (formal) context to say that building relations among countries requires everyone of us to be careful and work hard,” the Egyptian leader told reporters.

“The media has to be careful about every reported word if we are really keen on having relations between both countries, or between Egypt or any other country, going on and thriving.”

Since taking office in June, Al Sissi, an ex-army officer, has criticized the media on several occasions, raising concerns about freedom of expression in the country.

Addressing the same press conference, Al Bashir was equally critical of the media.

“In the past, people used to follow the religion of their rulers. Now, people follow the religion of their media,” he said at the end of a two-day visit to Egypt. “[But] what we I have agreed on with President Al Sissi will not be affected by the media. What has been agreed is too strong to be shaken by any wind or storm.”

Al Bashir has recently come under scathing criticism in the Egyptian media after he was quoted as saying that a border area also claimed by Egypt belongs to Sudan.

Neither Al Bashir nor Al Sissi raised the issue of the disputed Triangle of Halayeb at Sunday’s press conference. Instead both leaders spoke positively about future of the Egyptian-Sudanese relations.

“President Al Bashir’s visit comes at a time when there is a unified political and public will in the two countries to achieve a leap in the relations between Egypt and Sudan,” Al Sissi said.

The visit was Al Bashir’s first to Egypt since Al Sissi led the army’s overthrow of Islamist president Mohammad Mursi in mid-2013.

Al Sissi visited Khartoum in late June amid media reports that Sudan was providing shelter to Egyptian Islamists wanted by Cairo for alleged involvement in violence.

On Sunday, Al Bashir said he and Al Sissi agreed to implement an agreement giving Egyptian and Sudanese citizens rights of movement, residence, work and ownership in each other country.

“No Egyptian will feel strange in Sudan. Likewise no Sudanese will be strange in Egypt,” Al Bashir said.