Sisi calls for more co-op on counter-terrorism, combating illegal migration

CAIRO – 16 February 2019: Counter-terrorism, illegal migration, Palestinian-Israeli cause, Libya’s crisis, and Africa’s development are major priorities tackled by President Abdel Fatah al-Sisi in his speech at the 2019 Munich Security Conference (MSC 2019) on Saturday.

Being the chairperson of the African Union in 2019, Sisi gave a speech at the conference to be the first Arab president to address the three-day gathering. The conference is attended by 35 leaders of states, 50 foreign and 30 defense ministers.

“The conference convenes amid increasing manifold challenges and threats, including hotbeds of international tensions and conflicts , the spread of terrorism and extremism, and the escalating rate of organized crimes,” said President Sisi, calling on the international community to exert more efforts to cope with climate changes challenges against the whole world.

“Such challenges are seen clearly in the Middle East and the African continent alike. We witness armed conflicts, civil wars, ethnic clashes, and terrorist attacks; besides problems of poverty, unemployment, low productivity, and poor services,” Sisi said, calling for more cooperation to face such challenges, which result in economic crisis, financial market instability, and mounting debts.

“African Union’s 2019 priorities boil down to furthering regional economic integration all over the continent through increasing investments in infrastructure and through the African Continental Free trade Area (AfCFTA), besides adopting Sustainable Development Goals and the African Union's Agenda 2063,” Sisi said.

President Sisi also shed light on the 2020 Silence the Gun initiative that aims to achieve development as basis for stability and ending conflicts on continent housed by more than billion Africans.

As for the Palestinian-Israeli cause, President Sisi said the unfair settlement for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict will never lead to stability in the Middle East, calling for unifying the international efforts to put an end to this ongoing conflict and establish a Palestinian state on the border of June 4, 1967 with East Jerusalem as its capital in accordance with the international accords.

Regarding the Libyan crisis, President Sisi emphasized his country’s support to Libya to unify its disputed armed groups to bring peace and stability for the Libyans.

No illegal migration case has crossed the Mediterranean Sea from Egyptian shores since September 2016, President Sisi announced, adding that his country held a series of bilateral talks with a number of European countries to deal with the illegal migration from Africa to Europe.

Egypt hosts millions of registered and unregistered migrants, who are integrating into the Egyptian society, Sisi continued.

In the conclusion of his speech, President Sisi announced launching the First Aswan Forum for Security and Sustainable Development late 2019.