On Wednesday, 8 November, President Abdel Fattah El Sisi met with reporters and the press on the sidelines of the World Youth Forum in Sharm El Sheikh. In an extensive and wide-ranging press conference, President El Sisi discussed major issues facing Egypt, the region, and Egypt’s relations with key international partners, including the United States.

In his remarks, President El Sisi emphasized the need to maintain Egypt’s strong military capabilities, saying that “We have to be able to address the direct danger to Egypt” posed by insurgents and crises around the Middle East.

President El Sisi also addressed the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, saying that Egypt is “determined to find a solution that achieves the long-awaited hope of Palestinians,” and that “We see the reconciliation as a step to go forward to peace.”

For more, please see the SIS statement below.

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Sisi: We boost our military abilities to address terrorism
SIS
https://sis.gov.eg/Story/119394?lang=en-us

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi asserted on Wednesday the necessity to have military abilities to address “the disorder which happened in the region and also to fight terrorism .”

Addressing a meeting with reporters on the sidelines of the World Youth Forum in Sharm el Sheikh, Sisi said the more things develop in getting rid of Daesh in Syria, Libya and Iraq, the more their presence in the Western Desert and Sinai in Egypt will be .

“With what happened over the past seven years in Iraq, Syria, Libya and Yemen, a disorder occurred in the strategic balance in the region,” said the president, adding “a gap should not have taken place to affect our security and stability, so we had to have military equipment to confront terrorism which, we see, is not limited to the region but the whole world “.

“We have to be able to address the direct danger to Egypt,” he said .

As for the Palestinian cause, Sisi said Egypt’s role is determined to find a solution that achieves the long-awaited hope of Palestinians .

“We see the reconciliation as a step to go forward to peace,” the president said, referring to other moves including handing over the control of Gaza Strip crossings to the Palestinian authority.

On cooperation with China, President Sisi said Cairo and Beijing are strategic partners, adding that Egypt maintained balanced relations with the USA, Russia and China.

He also hailed the Egyptian-French relations, noting that a significant development in the relations has been seen since 2014.

Commenting on a terror attack that took place on Wahat way near Giza, the president said the security forces managed to arrest one attacker and eliminate all other members of the terrorist group.

He said the arrested terrorist is not an Egyptian national, pointing out that investigation results will be announced once the World Youth Forum wraps up.

The president hailed the distinguished efforts exerted to secure the country borders

On the situation in Saudi Arabia, Sisi voiced belief it is stable and under control.

The Egyptian leader said he is very confident that the Saudi leadership is able to deal with the kingdom’s internal affairs and voiced belief that the Saudi leadership would take no action in violation of the law.

Meanwhile, Sisi said Egypt is keen on promoting relations with Italy.

He stressed that Egypt continued to exert its utmost efforts to uncover the mystery of the murder of Italian student Giulio Regeni in Cairo.

There is no link between the return of Russian tourists to Egypt and the establishment of the Al-Dab’a nuclear plant, the Egyptian president said in response to a question on the Russian tourism return.

The president said Cairo allows other countries to get assured that the security measures at Egyptian airports are strict. (MORE)

On Ethiopia’s Renaissance Dam, Sisi said Egypt considers the Nile water a matter of life or death.

On the Libyan situation, he said that Egypt respects the will of the Libyan people and supports the Libyan national army.

Commenting on the Egyptian stance on Qatar, Sisi said the Arab anti-terror quartet is committed to its stance regarding the demands forwarded to Doha. President Sisi said he would introduce an accomplishment statement to the Egyptians in the coming two months on the progress done during his first presidential term, then he would think about running for a second one.

The Egyptians’ response to the statement would determine whether I would run for a second term or not, Sisi said.

The president said he never felt concerned in the face of challenges as long as Egyptians continued to be united.