PRESIDENT Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi is due to visit the United Kingdom from 4-6 November to enhance and coordinate relations between the two countries. He hopes to raise ties to a new level of partnership based on promoting stability and development in Egypt. Al-Sisi will meet British Prime Minister David Cameron to discuss ways of advancing political, economic and security cooperation, as well as the latest regional developments and the challenges they pose, foremost of which is terrorism. The president is scheduled to meet Secretary of State for Defence Michael Fallon to discuss military and security cooperation, as well as mutual coordination to address terrorist threats. The president will also meet members of the British parliament and is expected to emphasise the need to open a channel of communication between the House of Commons and House of Lords in the UK and the House of Representatives in Egypt after its formation. Parliamentarian relations are an important aspect of bilateral relations at the political and public levels. Official presidential spokesman Alaa Youssef said Al-Sisi will also meet representatives of a number of major British companies to outline promising investment opportunities in Egypt. “All possible ways of enhancing economic cooperation in energy, transportation and infrastructure, as they pertain to the national projects that Egypt is implementing, will be thoroughly discussed,” Youssef said. Youssef said the London talks will look to increasing trade between the two countries, which currently stands at around $2.7 billion annually. “This is in addition to increasing British investments, given that the UK is the largest foreign investor in Egypt with investments that exceed $20 billion,” Youssef added. Al-Sisi will also meet several British intellectuals with whom he will discuss Egypt's views on democratic and economic transitions, and ways to address the crises in the Middle East. Al-Sisi will also meet the president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). EBRD efforts are expected to increase following the bank's recent vote by its board of governors to make Egypt a formal recipient of EBRD finance. During the visit, two memoranda of understanding on security and higher education will be signed between Egypt and the UK.
