Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi is scheduled to visit Athens on Tuesday to discuss enhancing mutual cooperation between Greece, Egypt and Cyprus, as well as ongoing developments in the Middle East region. Central to security discussions will be the conflict in Syria and the escalating terrorist threat worldwide.
Al-Sisi is expected to hold separate talks with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades. He will also engage in a three-way summit to explore cooperation on economic issues, tourism, transport and energy, as well as coordination through regional and international organisations.
Tsipras said the three-way cooperation initiative aims to enhance cooperation, and that the three countries should unify efforts in the fields of energy, trade and transport, according to a statement released by the Greek embassy in Cairo.
The three countries will also aim to intensify cooperation at diplomatic and technical levels to convey a “common vision” to the international community regarding extremist doctrines and the problem of refugees in the region.
The Greek embassy said the three-way meeting will include discussions on combating terrorism, developments in the Middle East, and the ongoing dispute between Cyprus and Turkey.
Efforts to enrich military and security cooperation with Greece will be enhanced by Al-Sisi’s planned meeting with Greek Defence Minister Panos Caminos.
Al-Sisi’s visit to Greece is in line with the Egyptian government’s aim of increasing cooperation with Greece, Egyptian presidency spokesman Alaa Youssef said in a press statement.
He said Al-Sisi’s visit to Nicholas Vujicic, the president of the Greek parliament, aims to emphasise the importance of the parliamentary dimension in enhancing bilateral relations. The visit comes just as Egypt wraps up the second and final stage of parliamentary elections, with the imminent formation of the new House of Representatives.
He will also attend the Egyptian-Greek Business Forum to discuss ways to enhance cooperation in various economic sectors, especially energy.
The summit aims to build on the success of the first three-way summit, which took place in Cairo in November 2014, and the second summit hosted by Cyprus in Nicosia in April 2015.
