President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi travelled Saturday to Saudi Arabia to offer his condolences to the royal family for the death of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud who passed away on Friday dawn. Al-Sisi will meet with Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz and Prince Muqrin bin Abdulaziz and will discuss strengthening cooperation, in light of the "grave challenges" that the Arab and Islamic nations face, and given the "essential roles" Egypt and Saudi Arabia play at both the regional and international levels, a presidential press release said. Despite announcing cutting short his participation in Davos Economic Forum in Switzerland, Al-Sisi was unable to immedialy travel to the kingdom due to weather-related flying conditions. Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb replaced him at the funeral. Al-Sisi announced a seven-day mourning stating Arab and Muslim worlds have lost a "great leader". On a separate note, Al-Sisi received Jordan's Prince Hassan bin Talal and Director of the Political Directorate and the Royal Hashemite Court Manar Dabbas Saturday, in a meeting the president's office said focused on the "religious revolution"Al-Sisi recently spoke of in during an recent speech. Al-Sisi had emphasised the need to "fight extremist religious thought", and Egypt's highest religious institutions Dar Al-Ifta and the Minister of Religious Endowments vowed to change their discourse to confront "extremist ideas".
