President El-Sisi participates in Egypt-Visegrad Group Summit

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi arrived in the Hungarian capital, Budapest, on Monday morning 11/10/2021 to participate in Egypt-Visegrad Group Summit. The V4 countries areHungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland.

The Summit covers a number of issues, mainly Egypt’s role in the Middle East, cooperation to counter terrorism and illegal migration, and energy security, in addition to discussing opportunities to advance trade, investment and tourism relations between the two sides. The Summit will also tackle means to develop cooperation between Egypt and the European Union (EU), which includes the membership of the V4 countries.

President El-Sisi’s visit to Budapest will also include holding bilateral relations with senior Hungarian officials, namely Prime Minister Viktor Orbán and President JánosÁder, to discuss means of strengthening political and economic relations between the two friendly countries, as well as regional and international cooperation and coordination.

Activities

Tuesday 12/10/2021

President El-Sisi tackled developments in the Middle East and the numerous challenges besetting it, primarily crises in a number of the region’s countries and the collapse of the nation-state. This is in addition to the weakness of the conflict-hit countries’ institutions, which imposes the need to exert utmost efforts to end this situation, reinforce security and stability and seek political solutions to these crises.

President El-Sisi asserted that the prime challenge facing the region, as well as Africa, is the threat of terrorism, which jeopardizes the countries’ resources and the security of their peoples. The President confirmed that Egypt has succeeded to a great extent to counter and contain it by adopting a comprehensive and integrated approach that is not only limited to security confrontations, but also encompasses social, developmental, and cultural dimensions. President El-Sisi stressed that this national approach still needs the support of sincere, international efforts to strengthen it.

The President also confirmed that in parallel with combating terrorism and the destabilization resulting from it, waves of illegitimate immigration emerge against the backdrop of economic deterioration and instigation of internal conflicts in countries like Libya, Syria, Iraq and Yemen as a result of intervention at the hands of some countries in the region in their internal affairs and the pitting of different identities against each other by harnessing differences in religion, doctrine, or race, resulting in waves of displacement and asylum-seeking. The President stressed that effectively confronting illegitimate immigration requires addressing its roots and causes before its symptoms, at the forefront of which is settling regional crises and firmly and clearly confronting the attempts of some countries to exploit these crises, in order for the nation-state and its institutions to regain control in these countries. This requires a strong position from various countries and entities, including the European Union, in spite of Egypt’s successful efforts, more than others’, in putting an end to illegitimate immigration across our maritime borders since 2016.

With regard to extremism, the President explained that it is the result of the misinterpretation of the true principles and values of religion, which are based on diversity, acceptance of the other and the pursuit of welfare of all.

The Visegrad leaders affirmed that they hold in high esteem the President’s efforts in leading Egypt by adopting balanced and unwavering policies. This reflected on the great successes of eliminating terrorism in Egypt and halting the waves of illegal migration, which are issues of huge interest to Europe. They confirmed that they would exert efforts within the European Union to clarify Egypt’s endeavors, under the President’s leadership, in this context to further clarify the conditions in Egypt and support its approach in addressing all relevant issues as well as its immense development efforts to raise the citizens’ living conditions and services.

The President conducted individual talks followed by expanded talks with the Hungarian President. President El-Sisi started by expressing Egypt’s gratitude for the Hungarian warm reception and praising the extended Egyptian-Hungarian friendship bonds and the significant advance in relations accomplished at various levels during the recent period.

The President, also, expressed Egypt’s aspiration to deepen and promote robust relations, particularly at the economic and trade levels, by increasing the volume of Hungarian investments in Egypt.

The Hungarian President welcomed President El-Sisi and the accompanying delegation, expressing Hungary’s appreciation for Egypt at the official and popular levels and its pride of the historical ties binding the two friendly countries.

For his part, President El-Sisi asserted that Hungarian investments and industries have a strong chance of having a strong presence in the Egyptian market in order to benefit from the new Egyptian infrastructure and access the African markets through it, which achieved in light of the free trade agreements (FTAs) Egypt has with various regional economic blocs. The President confirmed the popular welcome in Egypt for boosting cooperation with Hungary and increasing its investments and trade activities in Egypt.

Both sides praised the unprecedented levels of cooperation and coordination between both countries in the field of water resources and management, especially water treatment facilities in light of the experiences and advanced technologies Hungary has in this field.

The talks covered various regional and international issues of mutual interest; especially the ones related to the developments of the Libyan crisis, Afghanistan’s situation and the mutual efforts made for combating the COVID-19 pandemic, reflecting mutual understanding between both countries on ways to address these issues. 

The Hungarian President praised Egypt’s pivotal role in cementing stability in the Middle East and Africa. He, also, commended Egypt’s diligent efforts in combating illegal immigration, achieving inter-religion coexistence, and supporting all peaceful solutions to regional crises.

Both parties exchanged views on combatting terrorism and extremist thought in light of the real threat they pose to development efforts in the region and the world. In this respect, President El-Sisi stressed the need to concert efforts of the international community in order to besiege this menace across all levels. For his part, the Hungarian President praised the comprehensive approach undertaken by Egypt regarding the war on terrorism by fixing the roots of the problem through supporting economic and social developments, in addition to combating extremist thought leading to terrorism.

The discussions also tapped on the latest development regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), where President El-Sisi stressed that Egypt’s current stance is based on the importance of arriving at a legal binding agreement regarding the filling and operation of the dam, which is based on rules of international law and the presidential statement in the United Nations Security Council. In this respect, the Hungarian President expressed his country’s full understanding of Egypt’ situation and the importance of the Nile water to it, affirming that the settlement of this issue will in turn enhance stability in the entire region.

President El-Sisi laid wreath at the memorial in Heroes’ Square, Budapest.

On the third day of his official visit to the Hungarian capital, Budapest, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi held talks today with Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orban, at the Premier’s office.

Prime Minister Orban welcomed President El-Sisi as a dear friend in Hungary. He expressed his country’s appreciation for Egypt’s leadership and people, lauding the firm relations that Egypt and Hungary share. The Hungarian Prime Minister underscored his country’s keenness on further advancing relations and stepping up cooperation and coordination between the two countries across all levels, particularly in light of Egypt’s pivotal role as a cornerstone for stability, security and peace in the Middle East and Africa.

For his part, President El-Sisi thanked Mr. Orban for inviting him to visit Hungary and for the warm reception and hospitality. He, also, commended the robust, longstanding and special relations between Egypt and Hungary, which was demonstrated in the numerous meetings held between the two sides. President El-Sisi confirmed Egypt’s interest to cultivate closer relations and to strengthen them in all fields, in addition to continuing political coordination and consultations between the two sides, noting that Egypt relies on Hungary in boosting Egypt’s relations with the Visegrad Group.

The talks tackled ways to enhance bilateral relations across an array of fields. In this respect, the Hungarian Prime Minister lauded the remarkable developmental progress in Egypt over the past years. He confirmed that his country looks forward to boosting mutual investments in a number of sectors, increasing trade, and achieving significant progress in economic relations between the two countries, particularly through the participation of Hungarian companies in the implementation of mega national projects in Egypt.

On cooperation between Egypt and Hungary within the context of the Visegrad Group, President El-Sisi commended the outcomes of the summit which was held on Tuesday between Egypt and the V4, asserting that Egypt hopes Hungary’s current chairmanship of the group would bring about tangible progress in various areas of cooperation with Egypt, given the profound expertise the group’s countries have in a multitude of fields, particularly in boosting economic cooperation and tourism. In this respect, President El-Sisi valued the growing cooperation between Egypt and V4 countries, which reflects an alignment in views on regional and international developments, notably in light of the current instability on the international arena which requires joint action with countries sharing similar orientations, particularly in the security and energy fields as well as regional security.

The negotiations tackled various developments in regional and international issues of common interest. The Hungarian Prime Minister praised the positive role played by Egypt in pursuing political settlements for all the existing crises in its regional surroundings. Mr. Orban also commended Egypt’s efforts to strengthen bridges of dialogue between African, Arab and European countries, combat extremist ideologies, and solidify principles and values of acceptance of the other, freedom of choice and tolerance.

The two sides exchanged points of view regarding developments in the Middle East peace process. Mr. Orban lauded the latest Egyptian actions at the highest level as well as Egypt’s diligent efforts to firm up the ceasefire between the Israelis and Palestinians; in addition to the Egyptian initiative for the reconstruction of Gaza. Both President El-Sisi and Mr. Orban reiterated the importance of working to strengthen international efforts aimed at reviving the peace process and resuming negotiations, in an effort to settle the Palestinian crisis, based on resolutions of international legitimacy.

The latest developments regarding the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam were also discussed, in light of the latest Security Council Presidential Statement necessitating the parties’ compliance to reach a legally-binding agreement on the filling and operation of the dam within a short period, in a manner that achieves the common interests of all parties. President El-Sisi emphasized that Egypt is fully committed to the trajectory of negotiations. He, also, confirmed that the international community has to play an influential role to resolve the pressing issue affecting Egypt's water rights.