UN Chief Guterres leaves Cairo heading to Libya

CAIRO – 4 April 2019: After concluding his two-day visit to Egypt, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres headed to Libya on Wednesday to discuss the latest developments of the Libyan political crisis.

On Tuesday, Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri met with the UN chief, where they discussed means to unify the international efforts to combat terrorism and extremism.

During their meeting, Shoukri said that Egypt will continue its cooperation with the United Nations in this regard through the implementation of relevant resolutions of the UN General Assembly, in coordination with the concerned UN departments, an official statement said, adding that Egypt will also implement the global strategy to fight terrorism.

The meeting discussed the recent developments of the international and regional issues, according to Ahmed Hafez, the foreign ministry spokesman. Shoukri affirmed Egypt's support of the pivotal role played by the UN in tackling the issues that concern the international community on the political, security and developmental levels.

During his visit, UN Secretary-General Guterres also met with Egyptian president Abdel Fatah al-Sisi and Azhar Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb. He also visited Giza's Grand Egyptian Museum.

A lot of developments have been taking place in Libya, as a National Forum is expected to take place by April 14 to include all of the rival Libyan parties under the auspices of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSML).

During the forum, the international community is hoping the rival parties would set a date to hold the awaited presidential and parliamentarian elections in Libya.