US secretary of defense Jim Mattis is to arrive to Egypt on 19 April as part of the visit to the Middle East and Africa. The US department of defense described the visit as an attempt to "discuss the cooperative effort to counter destabilising activities and defeat extremist terror organisations." He is to discuss regional security issues with his counterpart. He will also visit the Unknown Soldier Memorial in honour of fallen Egyptian soldiers. Before Egypt, Mattis will visit Saudi Arabia on 18 April, where he will have a series of meetings with "key international counterparts to strengthen commitments to the US-Saudi security partnership," according to an official statement. Following his talks with Cairo officials, Mattis will meet president Reuben Rivlin, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and minister of defence Avigdor Lieberman. He will later visit Qatar and Djibouti to hold bilateral talks with officials from both countries. Egypt has been seeking to tighten its relationship with the US since president Donald Trump was elected. Last Tuesday, minister of defence Sedky Sobhy met a with a US Congress delegation headed by Hal Rogers, chairperson of the US Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, where the two sides discussed joint military cooperation as the US delegation expressed their condolences on the church terror attacks on Palm Sunday last week.
