FM heads for New York Thursday ahead of Sisi’s visit

Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry will head for New York on Thursday to prepare for President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s participation in the 71st round of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

Upon his arrival in New York, Shoukry will hold intensive contacts to organize two-way meetings between Sisi and his world counterparts and leaders of regional and international organizations, Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said.

He is also expected to meet a large number of foreign ministers to discuss bilateral relations and exchange viewpoints on dealing with international challenges, the spokesman said.

Egypt’s participation in the UNGA meetings derives special importance from the different issues and meetings addressing the Middle East and Africa regions on the agenda with the country’s membership at the UN Security Council (UNSC) and the African Union’s Peace and Security Council (PSC), Abu Zeid added.

The meetings will take up a number of regional and international political, economic and social issues, security challenges, mainly the spread of terrorism and weapons of mass destruction and the crises of migration and refugees and their impact on international peace and security, he added.

Egypt will participate in a number of important meetings and events on the sidelines of the UNGA round, either at the level of the leadership or the foreign minister, he said, noting that a UNSC summit on Syria will take place on September 21.

A high-level UNGA meeting on the issue of migration and refugees will also be held in addition to a coordinating meeting of the Committee of African Heads of State on Climate Change that will be chaired by the Egyptian president, he said.

Egypt will chair a summit of the AU’s Peace and Security Council on September 22 as the agenda will focus on following up the situation in South Sudan and seeking means to enforce the political settlement there, Abu Zeid added.

The Egyptian foreign minister, on September 22, will attend a ministerial meeting on Syria with a limited participation of countries to bring viewpoints of indifferent Libyan sides closer to ensure the enforcement of the Skhirat agreement and promote security and stability efforts in Libya, he added.

Shoukry will also lead Egypt’s delegation to a number of coordinating ministerial meetings, including a meeting of Arab foreign ministers, an annual ministerial meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), a coordinating meeting of foreign ministers of African PSC member states and a meeting of foreign ministers of the Group of 77, the spokesman said. 

Shoukry will participate in high-level meetings concerned with the humanitarian crisis in Iraq, the situation in Mali, Somalia and the Chad Basin, a UNSC ministerial meeting on terrorism and air navigation security and a ministerial meeting of the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate, he concluded.

Source: MENA