How Sisi Boosts Egypt’s Regional Role Economically, Politically?

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi exerted intense activity throughout the past week at the local and foreign levels. He participated in many events abroad, starting with a video call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and traveling to the Greek capital, Athens, to participate in the Egyptian-Greek-Cypriot tripartite summit.

On Monday, President Sisi received a phone call via video conference from German Chancellor Angela Merkel who hailed Egypt’s positive role and lauded its country’s ties close relations with Cairo.

She stressed her keenness for Germany to continue strengthening those relations and supporting Egyptian development efforts in the future as a consistent approach to German policy.

On his part, Sisi assured the German chancellor of Egypt’s appreciation for the great contribution it has made since assuming the leadership of the German government in strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries and giving them the required impetus. He also expressed sincere wishes for success after the end of her term in the German chancellery and looked forward to continuing the distinguished level of cooperation between Egypt and Germany with the new government at all levels.

The call witnessed discussions on ways to enhance bilateral cooperation in all fields, especially with regard to trade exchange, boosting German tourism to Egypt, combating the repercussions of the coronavirus pandemic, and issues of education and character building for new generations of students, as well as cooperation in the field of new and renewable energy.

The two leaders discussed a number of regional files of common interest, especially the developments in the Libyan crisis. They stressed the need to continue consultation in this file, in addition to exchanging views on the developments of the Palestinian cause and also discussing the latest developments in the Renaissance Dam issue.

Last Tuesday, President Sisi headed to the Greek capital, Athens, to participate in the tripartite summit between Egypt, Greece and Cyprus in its ninth round, within the framework of the tripartite cooperation mechanism between the three countries that was launched in 2014.

The summit dealt with ways of cooperation between the three countries within the framework of the tripartite cooperation mechanism, affirming their success in perpetuating periodic consultation and close coordination on regional and international files.

It also reflected a mutual commitment to translating political consensus into a package of fruitful projects on the ground in various economic, cultural, security and military sectors.

The three leaders witnessed the existing and proposed projects for cooperation within the framework of the tripartite cooperation mechanism in the sectors of energy, gas, electricity, tourism, transport, agriculture and others. Hence, they touched upon efforts to combat illegal immigration, terrorism and extremist ideology, stressing the importance of continuing efforts towards achieving more cooperation and coordination in this regard.

They also discussed a number of regional and international issues of common interest; especially the file of stability in the eastern Mediterranean region, taking into account the requirements of maritime security for each country as it is part of regional security.

The Palestinian cause, the Libyan file, the situation in Syria, and ways to support brotherly Lebanon were also tackled during the summit and other bilateral talks on the sideline.

The three countries signed a memorandum of understanding for the electrical interconnection, within the framework of strengthening cooperation in the field of energy between them.