US Secretary of Defence to discuss strengthening security cooperation with Egypt

CAIRO- 19 April: US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis is to arrive to Egypt Wednesday as part of the visit to the Middle East and Africa. The US Defence Secretary will meet with his counterparts in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt this week to discuss strengthening security cooperation, according to the Pentagon.


This visit is considered the fourth trip to Mattis to the Middle East and Africa, retired general James Mattis will also be in Israel and Djibouti as part of his week-long trip to the region to strengthen relations in the Middle East.


Mattis is scheduled to stop in Egypt for security talks and for a wreath-laying ceremony at Egypt’s Unknown Soldier Memorial in honour of fallen Egyptian soldiers.


The US department of defence described the visit as an attempt to discuss the cooperative effort to counter destabilising activities and defeat extremist terrorist organisations.


Last Tuesday, Minister of Defence Sedky Sobhy met with a US Congress delegation headed by Hal Rogers, chairperson of the US Appropriations Subcommittee on State and Foreign Operations, where the two sides discussed joint military cooperation as the US delegation expressed their condolences on the church terror attacks on Palm Sunday last week.