Supervisor Elham AbolFateh
Editor in Chief Mohamed Wadie

AU Summit: Sisi Holds Several Bilateral Talks in Addis Ababa


Sun 09 Feb 2020 | 04:58 PM
Nawal Sayed

On the sidelines of the 33rd African Union Summit, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi held several bilateral talks with African, Arab and international leaders and discussed regional and global issues of common interests.

In a meeting with Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Sisi stressed Egypt's keenness to continue strengthening cooperation with United Nations organizations in various fields, support international peace and security, as well as coordination with the UN to enhance its primary role in dealing with files priority for developing countries.

"The Egyptian president also reviewed the substantive priorities that Egypt pushed during its presidency of the African Union, which were mainly aimed at continuing the progress made in implementing the continental and international development agendas in Africa," said Presidential Spokesperson Bassam Rady.

On his part, the UN Secretary General praised Egypt's distinguished position in the international work system; expressing his appreciation for the extended cooperation between Egypt and the United Nations.

Guterres also congratulated Sisi on the determined efforts and intense activity during Egypt's presidency of the African Union, lauding the qualitative shift in the direction of strengthening and deepening the strategic partnership between the AU and the UN, according to the presidential spokesman.

"The UN top official expressed the organization's keenness to strengthen and support cooperation with Egypt to lay the foundations of peace, stability and development at the regional level, especially in light of Egypt's pivotal role in Africa and the Middle East," Rady added.

Moreover, Guterres is looking forward to continuous support for the United Nations reform initiatives in various tracks, in addition to the large Egyptian contribution to UN peace-keeping operations.

The spokesman pointed out that the meeting witnessed discussions on the latest developments in a number of files and regional issues, especially the situations in Libya and Syria and the peace process in the Middle East.

"The President stressed the importance of working to implement the commitments emanating from the Berlin Summit and avoiding any difficulties or challenges in this regard, stressing his sovereignty to support the relevant United Nations efforts."

Earlier, Sisi was convened with his Algerian counterpart and discussed boosting bilateral relations between Cairo and Algiers at economic, investment and trade levels.

"President Sisi reaffirmed Egypt's supportive position to Algeria facing terrorist; especially in the Sahel region," Rady said.

On his part, Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune hailed the Egyptian achievements at domestic level in regards to security, safety and development; stressing that Egypt could restore its leading role regionally and globally.

Moreover, Sisi met held talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Saturday and tackled several issues, most notably regional developments, cooperation to fight extremism and counter-terrorism and foreign direct investments (FDI).