President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi arrived in Minsk, capital of Belarus, on Monday, the first leg of a three-day visit that included Romania. During his visit to Belarus Al-Sisi met Belarus President Aleksandr Lukashenko and exchanged views regarding regional and international issues, foremost of which was combating terrorism along with its extremist ideology. They also discussed exchanging security experiences as well as ICT knowledge. Al-Sisi reviewed Egypt's counter-terrorism efforts throughout the last several years and stressed the importance of exchanging expertise and information with the Belarusian side to face the challenges posed by terrorism to the entire world. According to Presidential Spokesman Bassam Radi, Al-Sisi discussed with his Belarus counterpart means of enhancing bilateral ties in trade, tourism and energy and signed a number of cooperation agreements in various fields. The president also met Belarusian businessmen and heads of major companies, as well as senior officials and representatives of governmental bodies during which he discussed ways of boosting economic cooperation and the vast investment opportunities offered by Egypt. During his stop in Minsk, the president laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier known as Victory Monument. On Wednesday, Al-Sisi headed to Romania where he was scheduled to meet Romanian President Klaus Iohannis. Al-Sisi was set to hold talks with Romanian heads of the House of Representatives and the Senate on strengthening political and economic cooperation between the two countries. “It was planned that both presidents would review the two countries' accomplishments from the perspective of Romania's presidency of the EU Council and Egypt's presidency of the African Union,” Radi said. Romania took over the presidency of the EU in February this year. Both sides were scheduled to discuss cooperation and coordination between Cairo and Bucharest at regional and international levels. The president's visit to Romania comes following an invitation from Iohannis. “Al-Sisi's official visit mirrors the bilateral relationship's soundness, as well as the fact that Egypt, which plays an eminent role in ensuring regional stability and security, is one of Romania's long-established friends,” Radi said.
