Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi arrived in Saudi capital Riyadh Saturday on a two-day visit to participate in the Arab Islamic American Summit with US President Donald Trump Sunday.
Trump landed Saturday in Riyadh in his first foreign tour to the Middle East and Europe. He is also scheduled to travel to Israel and the Vatican.
The US president described the summit earlier as “a truly historic gathering in Saudi Arabia with leaders from all across the Muslim world.”
Sisi is set to deliver a speech on Sunday during the Riyadh summit, according to presidency spokesman Alaa Youssef.
“The president will address the Egyptian vision towards framing a comprehensive strategy to fight the danger of terrorism, through intensifying international efforts aimed at suspending financing for terrorist organisations, [preventing them gaining] weapons and fighters, and [denying them] shelter,” the spokesman added.
Sisi is also scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with a number of leaders and officials who will be participating in the summit, in order to reinforce relations and discuss potential opportunities for cooperation at various levels.
The invitation to the summit comes after an earlier meeting between El-Sisi and Saudi King Salman in late April in the Saudi capital, where the two Arab leaders said they looked forward to enhancing cooperation to face challenges and restore security and stability in the region, referring to the conflicts in Syria, Yemen and Libya.
Also earlier in April, Sisi and Trump met in Washington where the latter vowed to provide Egypt with firm backing and cooperation in the fight against terrorism.
The issue was addressed again in a phone call between the two last week in which Trump told Sisi that he plans to visit Cairo “at the earliest opportunity” to discuss ways of fighting terrorism in the Middle East, stressing the importance of strategic relations between Egypt and the United States.