(AFP PHOTO)
President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi will visit the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on 18 and 19 January, to attend the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, according to a presidential statement.
The summit is expected to run between 19 and 22 of January, with Al-Sisi making an appearance on the first day of the summit.
“The visit aims to strengthen relations between the two countries,” the statement said. It added that there currently needs to be strategic planning to guarantee the arability of energy by starting different initiatives to include renewable sources of energy.
The UAE has also invited the Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani to participate in the summit, according to Qatar’s official news agency, QNA.
Egypt-UAE relations have seen a boom throughout the last two years, whilst diplomatic ties between Egypt and Qatar have been tense since the ouster of former Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.
However, tensions started to ease after the closure of the Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr, the Qatari news network’s live streaming channel from Egypt. Tensions also eased after Al-Sisi’s meeting with the Qatari Emir’s special envoy Sheikh Mohammad bin Abdel Rahman Al-Thani.
Part of a Saudi-brokered reconciliation between the two countries, the visit will put into effect an initiative announced by Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz earlier in November in the “Riyadh Supplementary Agreement”.
