CAIRO – 17 September 2017: President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi leads Egypt's delegation to the 72nd session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). He will also deliver a speech before the UNGA.
On the sidelines of the session, President Sisi is expected to hold meetings with a number of world leaders, including Arab and African heads of state to discuss international and regional issues and ways of enhancing cooperation in the various fields.
It is expected that Sisi will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump, in addition to key political, congressional and economic figures in the American administration, presidential spokesperson, Alaa Youssef, said in a
on Saturday.
Sisi will discuss supporting the United Nations’ efforts in the field of peacekeeping and expanding the shareholder base in peacekeeping operations.
Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will also be attending a number of ministerial meetings so he can present Egyptian endeavors in combating terrorism in the region.
Sisi’s Fourth Participation in the UNGA
This is the fourth participation of President Sisi in the UNGA since he assumed office in June 2014. Egypt’s foreign policies have witnessed significant development seen in the global and regional arenas. Egypt is a key player in fighting terrorism globally and boosting peace through its 30,000 soldiers’ participation in UN peacekeeping missions, along with Egypt’s efforts to solve Syrian, Palestinian, Yemeni and Libyan crises.
In the war against terrorism, the UN Security Council adopted a draft resolution on terrorism that was
.
Sisi’s participation in the 69th, 70th, and 71st sessions of the UNGA highlighted Egyptian foreign diplomacy through his speeches before UNGA leaders and participants.
President El Sisi Meets with ex-UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in New York in 2014- Press Photo
Economic and anti-terrorism portfolios were priorities to Sisi to discuss in his meetings with world leaders. In his last three UNGA participations, Sisi gave great attention to the economic file within the so-called “economic diplomacy.”
He met with global economic figures and held many meetings with businessmen to encourage them to invest in Egypt. Sisi promised to fight bureaucratic measures that impede foreign indirect investments (FDI).
Fighting terrorism and securing national integrity has been always on the top agenda of the Egyptian president in his international tours, most notably before the UNGA leaders.
On September 25, 2014, Sisi gave a speech in his first UNGA participation asserting Egyptian efforts in combating terrorism during his meetings with more than 40 leaders.
Sisi’s participation in the 70th UNGA in 2015
The President launched an Egyptian plan, to be carried out in coordination with the United Nations and member-states together with a wide participation of young people in an initiative called, “Hope and Action for a New Direction” or “HAND” as it is put in English.
It will actually be the hand that Egypt is extending as one way of its contribution to overcome the powers of extremism and ideas that these extreme forces are seeking to disseminate. This contribution will be undertaken through positive action that does not stop only at resistance; which is the method that is usually adopted while fighting terrorism until now, focusing only on defending the present.
President El Sisi Meets German Chancellor Merkel in New York in 2015- Press Photo
The president said that Egypt and the Middle East had been, in recent years, confronted with a danger that required creating brighter prospects and opportunities for youth. Counter-terrorism efforts had, so far, been defensive.
Alongside those efforts, world leaders needed to channel the energy of youth away from extremists and false ideas and towards a peaceful future. There existed no doubt that more than 1.5 billion Muslims had refused to subscribe to the view of the terrorist minority that claimed to speak on their behalf, but many in the international community had refused to recognize that Muslims and non-Muslims alike were at war with the same enemy.
The United Nations had witnessed Libya break up into extremist factions — a situation which motivated the formation and signing in Skhirat of the political accord to end the Libyan crisis.
World leaders’ efforts should focus now on rebuilding the Libyan State and empowering it to effectively defeat the terrorist groups before they could establish a base from which to target Libya’s neighbors and extend their reach into the depths of Africa. Egypt had also observed the ways in which extremists had exploited the legitimate aspirations of the Syrian people to drag the nation into conflict. His country called on the Syrian national parties to meet in Cairo to formulate a clear plan to build a democratic country that would preserve the Syrian State and its institutions, as well as protect its diversity and national identity.
Furthermore, Egypt’s political and military support for Yemen and its government had taken place at Yemen’s request, and stemmed from Egypt’s commitment to preserving Arab national security, he said. International leaders must exert the necessary efforts to resume the transitional peace process, in accordance with the Gulf Initiative and its mechanisms, as well as relevant Security Council resolutions.
Finally, the increasing plight of refugees fleeing destructive armed conflicts reaffirmed the need to work towards confronting the scourge of terrorism, in addition to creating channels for legal immigration.
Sisi’s participation in the 71st UNGA in 2016
President Sisi talked during the UN General Assembly meetings in the name of developing countries and briefed the international community on their concerns, especially in what comes to achieving sustainable development under the UN 2030 Agenda.
President Sisi recieves President of Uruguay Tabaré Vázquez on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York in September 2016- Press Photo
Sisi talked about the positive and negative aspects of globalization and the fact that the international community should work on increasing advantages of globalization and decreasing its disadvantages.
As for Syria, Sisi underlined, during his word at the UN Security Council, the importance that all sides concerned would have the intention to find a solution to the five-year-old crisis in Syria. Sisi called for putting an end to this tragic situation in Syria through the cooperation of all sides concerned.
President El Sisi Meets Jordan's King Abdullah II in New York in 2016- Press Photo
“The phenomenon of terrorism, with what it represents of aggression on the right to life, became more of a threat to international peace and security given the fact that terrorism is threatening the entity of the state in favor of extremist ideologies that are committing barbaric acts and tampering with the potentials of peoples under the cloak of religion,” Sisi said before the UNGA in its 71st session in 2016.
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