(AFP Photo)
Egyptian politician Amr Moussa is on a “working visit” in Washington, DC to visit with a number of high-ranking American officials and “decision-makers” ahead of this month’s presidential elections.
Moussa, head of the Constituent Assembly and former Minister of Foreign Affairs, will meet with National Security Adviser Susan Rice, members of Congress and the Senate, as well as Senator John McCain and Secretary of State John Kerry.
Moussa participated in a meeting at the Washington Institute for Middle Eastern Studies, where he gave a speech that focused on the “positive steps taken by Egypt to implement the [post-Morsi] roadmap”.
Following his speech at the Washington Institute, Moussa met with a delegation from the US Treasury Department, during which Moussa discussed “a number of aspects of economic and trade cooperation between Egypt and the United States”.
Moussa will meet again with Congress and members of the House of Representatives Tuesday, after which he will give a speech on Egyptian-American relations at the Washington Institute.
Finally, Moussa will participate in a number of open discussions and panels with the public, which will focus on the political and economic situation in Egypt.
The former head of the Constituent Assembly, which formed the recently-ratified 2013 Constitution, has been openly supportive of presidential candidate Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi since early December.
Before Al-Sisi declared his bid, Moussa said that if Al-Sisi decides not to run for the presidency, “we will make him run”.
“As for the [Egyptian] people, the majority of them want Al-Sisi to run for presidency,” Moussa added. “We don’t need to talk about any alternatives now. Al-Sisi is the one who has the people’s trust and admiration, [so] we should give him this chance [to run for presidency].”
Days before the former Field Marshal’s official announcement of his intention to run for office, Moussa revealed to the public that a then-undecided Al-Sisi was putting together an electoral platform.
In a press statement, Moussa said that a group of public figures and experts were involved in “intensive discussions” to develop a programme encompassing development and reform that would be adopted by Egypt’s former top general in his potential presidential run.
Moussa’s media consultant Yara Khalaf told Daily News Egypt in March that the politician would not take on an official role in a potential Al-Sisi presidential bid, but added that he and Al-Sisi share a close relationship and would be in contact for unofficial advice.
This month’s scheduled presidential elections only have two contenders, Al-Sisi and Hamdeen Sabahy, who ran for president against Moussa in 2012. The recently outlawed Muslim Brotherhood’s Mohamed Morsi won the 2012 elections in a run-off with Ahmed Shafiq.
