President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi embarks on 29 August, 2015 on a week-long tour of Asia which will take him to Singapore, China and Indonesia.

The first country President Sisi is set to visit is Singapore where he will meet with President Tony Tan Keng Yam. This will be the first such visit by an Egyptian president to Singapore since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1966.

Singapore is a global commerce, transportation and financial hub, with the world's 3rd-largest foreign exchange centre, 4th-largest financial centre and one of the top two busiest container ports in the world since the 1990s. It is ranked the "easiest place to do business" for nine consecutive years. Its globalised and diversified economy depends heavily on trade, with manufacturing accounting for around 30 percent of Singapore's GDP in 2013.

Egypt seeks to benefit by Singapore’s economic growth experience.

President Sisi’s second stop will be China where, at the invitation of Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, he will be attending Beijing’s celebrations of victory in WWII. The visit aims at translating into facts on the ground the framework agreement signed in Cairo in February 2015 to implement 15 projects worth $10 billion. The projects aim to boost joint enterprises and investments in electricity, petroleum, natural gas, railways, highways, ports, mining, construction materials, chemical, optical industries, textiles, electrical appliances and others.

Indonesia will be President Sisi’s last stop. While there, he is expected to meet his Indonesian counterpart Joko Widodo.

The history of Egyptian-Indonesian relations traces back to 1945. Egypt was prompt to recognize Indonesia’s independence in 1946 to conclude a friendship agreement with Indonesia in 1947. Both countries are members of the Non-Aligned Movement.

This is the first such visit to Indonesia by an Egyptian president since 1983. It reflects President Sisi’s vision of the need to open up to countries across the globe and to benefit by the experiences of the Asian Tigers in achieving comprehensive development especially through medium and small enterprises. The visit also provides an opportunity to attract investments to the Suez Canal Development project.

Egypt and China