Egypt’s Sisi, Saudi Crown Prince stress joining efforts to counter terrorism and countries supporting it

During a summit in Cairo on Sunday, Egypt President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stressed the importance of joining their countries’ efforts to address attempts to divide the region’s countries and the threat of terrorism and countries supporting it.

Bin Salman arrived in Cairo earlier on Sunday for his first official visit to Egypt as part of his first foreign tour since assuming the position of Crown Prince in June 2017. He was received by President El-Sisi at Cairo airport.

Shortly after the reception ceremony, El-Sisi and Bin Salman held a bilateral summit at the Ittihadeya Presidential Palace in Cairo.

“President Sisi expressed Egypt’s keenness to enhance bilateral cooperation with Saudi Arabia in all fields, in a way that reflects the level of strategic partnership between the two countries”,” Egypt’s presidential spokesman Bassam Rady said in a statement.

Rady also highlighted the significance of the visit’s timing in light of the “great challenges currently taking place in the Middle East, which require mutual coordination between Egypt and Saudi Arabia.”

“The Egyptian president reaffirmed that the security of the Gulf is an integral part of Egyptian national security,” the spokesman added.

For his part, the Saudi Crown Prince, Minister of Defence and First Deputy Prime Minister Bin Salman extended to Sisi the greetings of Saudi King Salman bin Abdul-Aziz.

Bin Salman stressed that his keenness to conduct his first foreign visit as Crown Prince “reflects the depth and strength of relations between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which are bound by common history and one destiny”.

The Crown Prince also expressed hope that the visit will give momentum to the strategic relations between the two “brotherly countries” on the official and popular levels, and to strengthen bilateral cooperation in all fields in order to enhance joint Arab and Islamic action in face of dangers and threats.

“The meeting [also] covered ways to enhance economic and investment relations between both countries, especially in the field of tourism investment in Egypt’s Red Sea region,” the statement added.

“El-Sisi and Bin Salman’s discussions conveyed agreement on regional issues and on combining efforts to seek political settlements to the existing crises in the region’s countries to end the humanitarian suffering of its people and preserve the sovereignty and territorial integrity of nations,” Rady concluded.

Bin Salman’s three-day visit to Cairo coincides with the signing of economic agreements between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, according to Egyptian media.

The crown prince has visited Egypt several times in recent years while serving as deputy crown prince.

In addition to serving as the crown prince, minister of defence and deputy prime minister, Bin Salman is also the president of the Council for Economic and Development Affairs in his country.

After his visit to Egypt, Bin Salman will head to the United Kingdom on 7 March and to the United States on 19 March.