President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met with US President Donald Trump in New York on Monday, ahead of the UN General Assembly which takes place this week. El-Sisi said that his meetings with Trump reflect the significant understanding between the two countries, adding that this was his second meeting with the US president in two months. Speaking to the press at the meeting, El-Sisi said that the region will remain in a state of instability as long as political Islam seeks to rule, and added that public opinion in Egypt rejected political Islam when it ruled for a year. "And public opinion does not accept for political Islam to rule in Egypt again," said El-Sisi. Trump said that El-Sisi "is a great leader" who had managed to restore control and stability in Egypt after chaos. Trump said his administration is seeking to boost cooperation, coordination and strategic consultation with Cairo in the coming period in light of Egypt's pivotal role in the Middle East, according to a statement by El-Sisi's spokesman Bassam Rady. According to the statement, El-Sisi asserted that Egypt is keen to promote and cement the partnership relations with Washington, pointing to the importance of this partnership in boosting peace and stability in the region. Egypt looks forward to more coordination and consultation with the US on all regional issues, El-Sisi said. He also underlined the importance of continuing cooperation between Cairo and Washington to combat terrorist organisations. Trump hailed Egypt's successful counter-terror efforts, asserting that Egypt is a key partner in the fight against terrorism. The meeting between El-Sisi and Trump tackled also economic cooperation. Trade council dinner
El-Sisi also attended a dinner banquet on Monday hosted by the Business Council for International Understanding (BCIU), a non-partisan, US-based organization that works to expand international trade by facilitating mutually beneficial relationships between its business members and government leaders worldwide. According to Rady's statement, El-Sisi said his repeated meetings with the council members reflect the distinguished spirit of cooperation between Egypt and the US and showed Egypt's keenness on promoting its economic and trade relationship with the American business community. El-Sisi spoke about positive developments in economic relations, highlighting the huge and diverse investment potentials created by the mega-projects that Egypt is currently implementing, especially in the Suez Canal region, Rady said. He said that the area features a number of mega-industrial and logistics areas offering promising investment opportunities for American companies wishing to benefit from Egypt's strategic geographical location as a hub for production and re-exporting goods to different countries of the world, the spokesman added. The president said that the qualitative shift that Egypt has witnessed lately in various development sectors reflects the strong resolve of its government and people to achieve sustainable development. The BCIU members expressed their happiness with the meeting and said that their conversation offers a good opportunity to further foster bilateral friendship and cooperation. They also said that they are looking forward to exploring the promising investment opportunities in Egypt, most particularly in the sectors of transport, health, energy, e-commerce, information technology, small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurship, the spokesman said. They lauded the attractive business climate in Egypt and the economic reforms and friendly business measures that Egypt has adopted, and the great efforts exerted by the government to push the national development process forward, Rady also said. He added that talks between the two sides covered the American companies' future investment plans in the Egyptian market and the importance of maintaining efforts aimed at boosting investments and the trade exchange to push economic relations to new heights.
