On Saturday Jan 28, 2023, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi arrived in the Armenian Capital, Yerevan, for the first visit by an Egyptian President since Armenia's independence.

President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi met with the President of Armenia, Vahagn Khachaturyan, at the Presidential Palace in Yerevan, Armenia.

An official reception was held and the national anthems were played.

President El-Sisi held closed talks with President Khachaturyan, followed by an expanded meeting that included the two countries’ delegations. President Khachaturyan welcomed the historic visit of President El-Sisi and expressed Armenia’s appreciation for Egypt at the official and popular levels, valuing the extended ties between the two friendly countries.
The Armenian president commended the reform steps of the Egyptian economy and the major national projects underway, stressing his country's keenness to support Egypt's development efforts and support it in all fields, in addition to looking forward to exchanging technical expertise with Egypt and collaborating in the implementation of projects in Armenia in a number of sectors, where it has successful experience, particularly infrastructure and transport.
President El-Sisi expressed Egypt’s appreciation for the warm reception in Armenia, noting the strong and historic Egyptian-Armenian friendship, particularly Egypt’s hosting of the Armenian community and its members who contributed to developments in various political, economic, cultural and artistic fields, as well as their role in enriching the Egyptian society.

President El-Sisi highlighted recent advancement in relations between the two friendly countries at various levels and expressed appreciation for the Armenian president’s participation in COP27, which reflected the strong bilateral relations.
The President looked forward to further enhancing economic and trade relations, in light of the role of the joint committee on economic, scientific and technical cooperation, which last convened in Yerevan in 2017, in addition to the businessmen forum, which helps introducing the areas for investment and trade between the two countries.
Talks touched on a number of regional and international issues of common interest. President Khachaturyan commended Egypt's pivotal role in consolidating stability in the Middle East and Africa, particularly combating illegal migration, achieving interfaith coexistence and supporting peaceful solutions to crises within its regional surroundings.
The two presidents exchanged views on combating terrorism and extremism, as well as means to join forces to confront the global economic repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.

President El-Sisi and President Khachaturyan witnessed the signing of a number of agreements and MoUs between the concerned government agencies in the two countries for cooperation in the fields of science and technology, as well as a Memorandum of Understanding between the Egyptian Ministry of Youth and Sports and the Armenian Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports and a Memorandum of Understanding for institutional cooperation in the investment field. This was followed by a joint press conference.

President El-Sisi's Speech at Joint Press Conference with President of Armenia

Your Excellency President Vahagn Khachaturyan

President of the Republic of Armenia,

Ministers,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to start by expressing my pleasure of being present today in the capital, Yerevan, as the first Egyptian president to visit this wonderful city, since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, which marked their 30th anniversary in 2022.

This visit reflects the extent of interest and appreciation that Egypt has for its relations with Armenia and its interest in developing them in various fields as an extension of the historical relations, which have their own unique characteristics at the popular level. This dates back to the days when Egypt hosted tens of thousands of Armenians who lived in Egypt and made significant contributions to various political, economic, cultural and artistic fields. Their role had the most positive impact in enriching the Egyptian society.

It is also my pleasure to express my sincere gratitude and deep appreciation for the generous hospitality and warm reception that we have enjoyed since our arrival in the friendly land of Armenia. This friendly atmosphere had an impact on today's discussions, which I held with His Excellency President Vahagn.

The meeting touched on the huge leap Egypt has achieved in the field of energy production. This is not only in connection with the field of gas, but also in connection with the launch of the National Strategy for Green Hydrogen. The strategy made it a promising investment destination, given the availability of the necessary energy resources for industry and the associated free and preferential trade agreements with Arab and African countries. This gives products manufactured in Egypt major competitive advantages.

I also expressed, in this context, Egypt's appreciation for the participation of President Vahagn in World Climate Summit COP27, held in Sharm El-Sheikh in November 2022. This demonstrated the extent of attention that Armenia attaches to the climate issue.

On the economic level, we confirmed the importance of joint action to increase trade between the two countries to be commensurate with their promising potential and distinct political relations, due to their popular specificity. This requires the activation and revitalization of the existing economic mechanisms between the two countries to make the most of them, mainly the joint commission on economic, scientific and technical cooperation and the businessman forum.

The talks also reviewed Egypt's efforts to overcome the obstacles that foreign investors face and the major national projects, which the entire of Egypt witnessed, to achieve development and advance the national economy, particularly the Suez Canal Economic Zone, and the benefits it offers to foreign investors, giving access to products to a large number of neighboring Arab and African markets, as well as the issuance of the “Golden License”.

We also reviewed Egypt's major leaps in infrastructure and transportation and the experience Egyptian companies have in this sector and their ability to implement projects, conforming to international standards, at a record time. I expressed to President Vahagn Cairo’s readiness to share experience with Yerevan in this sector, at the technical level and to participate in the implementation of infrastructure projects in Armenia.

During my discussions with His Excellency President Vahagn, we discussed a number of international and regional issues of common interest, in the Middle East and South Caucasus. We confirmed the importance of dialogue, negotiation and sustained action to achieve permanent, comprehensive and just peace to complete the course of peace, to achieve a better reality and decent life for the peoples, particularly at present when the people’s suffering has doubled at the economic level, in light of the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic and the Russian-Ukrainian crisis.

Once again, I wish President Vahagn success in leading Armenia and its people, who are dear to the hearts of the Egyptians. I am confident that this visit will represent a real starting point, by the political momentum gained and understanding shared at the summit level, to strengthen Egyptian-Armenian relations in various fields, particularly at the economic and investment level, in light of Egypt's experience in a number of industrial sectors that are of priority for the Armenian market.

I wish Armenia and its friendly people success, progress and prosperity.

Thank you.

Moreover, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi held talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.

The Prime Minister Mr. Pashinyan expressed his pleasure to receive President El-Sisi in Armenia for the first time, affirming his country’s interest in developing relations with Egypt in light of its key role in the Middle East and Africa, as well as its independent and balanced foreign policy in dealing with complex challenges within its troubled regional surrounding.

Prime Minister Mr. Pashinyan also commended the historical and special relations that have always connected the two friendly countries and the momentum relations recently gained through the exchange of high-level visits, the most recent visit of which was the Armenian president’s participation in COP27.

  

President El-Sisi extended gratitude to the Armenian Prime Minister for the warm reception, expressing pleasure at visiting Armenia and interest to further enhance bilateral relations in an array of fields, given the firm and longstanding relations between Egypt and Armenia. The President lauded Armenia’s positive and valued stances with regard to Egypt as well as the remarkable development achieved in the two countries’ relations over the past period, in light of the mutual interest to promote bilateral relations toward broader prospects.

During the talks, the President reviewed progress in Egypt’s development plans and mega national projects which are currently being implemented, offering various investment opportunities. President El-Sisi confirmed his interest to achieve significant progress in bilateral relations. This includes in particular encouraging cooperation between the two countries’ business communities, in a manner that shall reflect on boosting trade and investment; and convening the sixth edition of the Egyptian-Armenian Joint Committee on Economic, Scientific and Technical Cooperation in Cairo at the earliest time, given its role as an institutional mechanism for dialogue between the two countries. This is in addition to fostering closer cooperation in a multitude of promising areas, including energy, infrastructure, IT, food and pharmaceutical industries, as well as supporting Egypt’s efforts to establish a free trade zone with the Eurasian Economic Union, which will realize the two sides’ common interests.

Moreover, views were exchanged on a number of regional issues and crises and their repercussions on Europe’s stability. Prime Minister Pashinyan valued Egypt’s relevant efforts to reach political solutions to various crises in the Middle East.

With regard to Eastern Europe and South Caucasus, both sides agreed on the need to intensify coordination and consultation on issues of common interest in this regard, especially developments of the Russian-Ukrainian crisis and its global economic repercussions.

President El-Sisi and Prime Minister Pashinyan also agreed on the need to boost joint cooperation to combat illegal migration through a comprehensive approach and work to eliminate the main causes that encourage this phenomenon. This is in addition to reviewing the latest developments with regard to combating terrorism, which threatens various countries. Both sides confirmed that it was important for the international community to join efforts to address this phenomenon.

On Sunday evening, Jan 29, 2023, President El-Sisi left Zvartnots International Airport in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, heading back home after a foreign tour that also included India and Azerbaijan.