President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi kickstarted a three-day European tour which has legs in each of Belarus and Romania. The presidential visits aim to boost economic and commercial ties, not to mention exchange viewpoints on regional and international topics of common concern, especially counter-terrorism efforts.
In his first destination, Sisi met with Belarus’s Prime Minister Siarhiej Rumas as part of his official visit to Minsk and discussed bilateral ties and expanding investment cooperation.
The volume of trade exchange between the two countries amounted to $108.7 million dollars in 2018, compared to $97 million dollars in 2017, according to data released by Egyptian authorities.
Sisi is scheduled to hold a bilateral summit with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, who is both the President and Speaker of Parliament.
It is worth noting that Sisi’s visit is the first of its kind and that the countries’ two foreign ministries held five rounds of political consultations at the level of deputy foreign ministers.
According to Egyptian authorities, Sisi’s tour will include the signing of a number of agreements in various fields of bilateral cooperation, especially those focused on economic and investment sectors.
The Egyptian president is also slated to meet with representatives of the Belarusian business moguls and heads of major companies to review prospects of bilateral economic cooperation and investment opportunities available in Cairo.
The second leg of Sisi’s European tour will be Bucharest where he will meet with the Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and heads of the two houses of the parliament.
“The president will discuss ways to enhance political and economic relations between the two countries,” Egypt’s Presidency Spokesperson Bassam Rady stressed.
